THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS 
IT IS TODAY 

F 1060 

.9 ^ ^.^ [^ ^ k. ' ^ A "* 

C77 L ^ ..mlF. M~" ™1 

Copy 1 




1. ENTRANCE TO PEACE RIVER TRAIL. 

2. COOK'S PARTY ON PEACE RIVER TRAIL. 

3. IN THIS LAND OF THE BUFFALO IS WHERE JIM COOK 

LIVES 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/canadiannorthwesOOcook 




MISS COOK. 

IN OUR BOAT. THE HAPPY ROVER. HEAD OF SLAVE RIVER. 
A STOP FOR LUNCH. 




JIM M. COOK. 

AS A TEXAS RANGER. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS 
TODAY. 

By 

JIMM. COOK. 



Copyright applied for. 

March 6, 1912. 

All rights reserved. 



«end Fifty Centa Ih United States Postofflce Money Order and 
ttis Oook wJJl be sent post-paid to any address in the United States. 
I will not he responsible for money sent in any other form. 

JIM M. COOK, 
3 ^ Los Angeles, CaJlfomla. 



Published by Jim M. Oook, 
Los Angeles, California. 

PRrCE FIFTY cEjrrs. 



/ L r 



i% 



^77/ 



eo 



gCU30il507 
NO. I 



PREFACE. 



Where seme have gone, others are sure to follow. To those 
1 offer this bck. If you would profit by the e^ perience of those 
that have gone ahead. It is not my intention to boom this country, 
or to speak harmful of it. I stand entirely alone, because I tell 
of the conditions there; as they have never been told before. You 
V. i 1 find it intensely interesting. I v.ent to Canada to see it, and 
I saw it. I was there twenty months, and traveled almost all over 
Jt. I drove more than eight hundred miles, to the end of wagon 
travel, then tool- ponies to end of pack trail; then took r w b)at 
to the end of canoe travel, then took steamer to the ice. Then 
walked until that was all taken up. Then took dog sleigh, and 
finished up. I saw all the prairie they have, and all the moskeg, 
bush country that I wanted to see. Take this book along, and con- 
?u;t it as you go. It will save you from one hundred to one thou- 
Efnd do lars. It will tell you when to go, how to go, where to 
go, and what you will find when you get there. 

To the tourists who would seek the most improved portion?, 
and the grandest scenery. To the sportsman who likes outdoor life. 
• nd the shooting of big game. To the farmer who would seek a 
free home in a new country. To the stock raiser who would like 
to f"d a row west. There is r om here for all. 

Now to the poor man who can't afford to experiment, my friend 
let me say to you right here, be careful of newspaper reports and 
magazine articles: read them, and weigh them; they are advertise- 
n-tents and are paid for, and they will say anything when they are 
Ptid to say it. And as to any Goverment's literature, I have thi? 
to say, their literature n-ight be right, as far as it goes, but they 
do not go far enough. In so much as they do not change their liter- 
ature to keep abreast with the rapid changes in a new country. 
Therefore, such reports are often misleading. If you can get a 
true and correct report on c.ny country you can tell pretty close 
as to whether or not you can better your condition there. Where 
there is adverti?lng there is misrepresentation and fraud. A sure 
wpy to judge between advertising matter and true reports is this: 
where the writer stands alone and tells the bad as well as the good. 
Then you get a true report, 1 ecause no man. or set of men are going 
to pay anv man to say a bad word for their cor.ntry or their goods. 
I am not interested in any colonization scheme, and no c^e has naj-' 
me a cent to say anything good, or bad for this country — I stand 
entirely alone. I have reso■^ed in this book to hue to the line, 
fnd let the chips fail where they may. Did you ever see anything 
that was a!! good and no bad, unless It w?.? an advertisement? 
(Note) — This book does not CTry one adverti>-ement. .^ 'ter frav- 
fling ever the CanacTian Northwest for twenty mont^?, he;e is a 
true report of my findings. 

I am very truly your'. 

JIM M. 0^0:1. 



Oh ye, mortal man 
Why will ye work for the other man 

While Free, Free, Free 
Is all of this land to woman or man? 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 

I have seen Canada as it has never been seen before; I have de- 
scribed it as It has never been described before. I am in a class en- 
tirely alone. It is a country of mysteries; yet it has many oppor- 
tunities for a poor man. Farming, truck fanning, gardening, mer- 
cantile, trading, milling, boating, rafting, and teaming; transportation 
in every form is in great demand. Stock raising; cattle, horses, sheep, 
goats, and hogs. Also the trapping of wild furs is very profitable. 
Fishing is great. Quartz and placer mining is good. 



THE START. 



Fcr two years before I went to Canada I had been reading maga- 
ilne Erticles on Canada until I had the fever pretty bad. I sent to 
Canada and got Government literature; that gave me the fever worse. 
I finally decided to go and see for myself what they had up there 
to brag so much about. 

I used our West for (he free grass until it was all gone, and my 
few remaining old poor cows were about to starve. I was born and 
lEised on the great Western cattle ranges of West Texas, and for 
forty years I have roamed over the West from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the Canadian border, and from Texas to California. I know ail 
the West, and I think I know a good country when I see it. 

On the second day of April, 1910, I left my ranch in New Mexico, 
and headed for Northwestern Canada. My daughter begged so hard 
♦o 20 with me that I took her along. My object was to find a new 
West, and I kept going until I found it. We arrived in El Paso, 
Te>as and spent a few days visiting friends, making our arrange- 
ments for a twelve months' stay in Canada. On the eleventh of 
Anril we bought two tickets — sixty-two dollars each — for Calgary, 
Canada, and had our baggage checked through to that place. We 
boarded a west bound Southern Pacific train for Canada. We 
••: "^sed t'")rougii Deming. New Mexico. Tucson and Fort Yuma, Ari- 
ronn. We arrived at Los Angeles, California; here we were given 
cur choice of two routes, over the Southern Pacific to San Fran- 
ciscf^, the coast route or the in'and route. We took the coast route 
by way of Santa Barbara and San Jose. Part of the route our train 
r:;7i alonar alnv st at the water's edge of the ocean. We were two 
rii^I'ts F.ud one day running from El Paso, Texas to Los Angeles, 
p.nd ■ive were one day and half night running from Los Angeles to 
Fa'^ Franrisco. At S.n Francisco we stopped off one day sight 
seeing, and by arrangen^ent we met my brother, Al W. Cook. 

After we had talked a while, he said: "I must go see about my 
n.'.re, the blaek-'^yed Susie." He then asked where my horse was, 
p' ' t Id him thnt t hal rode the iron horse i'l there. "Bosh." he 
fail; "yru ca" not find a new West on the railroad; I a?n goin^ 
horseback." When we gnt ready to resu'ne our journev, my brother 
7 'nurted the blgck-eyed Susi^, and rode to the deck of a great 
transport vessel lying at the pier. We bid each other good-bye, he 
!■ go to the Phi irpines rnd A>;stralia. I and my dai'ghter to go to 
t' e Canadian Northwest, each of us seeking a new West. We 
boarr'ed one of the big steam ferry boats at the foot of Market 
street for Oaklpnd, rcross the bay. ITere v.e acrp.in boarded a 
Southern Pacific tiain. north bound. At Portland, Orpcrnr, we 
ptopped a few hour? and changed cnr? to the Northern Ppciflc. We 
were out from Fnn Frnncisco two nights and one day. That after 
noon we ran info Seattle, Washington. Here we stopped until next 
day nt 10 a . r">., w'en we re^^umed our journey north, still with the 
Northern Pacific. We arrived at Suma? at 4 n. m. same day. Sumas 
Is on the American "^ide of the Intermti^nal boundary line. Here 
we made a s'^ort stop; then our trai" pul'rd un a ?hor' distonce 
end riTcle another stor, this time just across the line rn the Canadian 
side-. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. • 
CROSSING THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE. 



Now if you have never been in a foreign country you are apt to 
feel a litt'.e restless, as you do not know just what kind of a gril in^ 
you are gcing to be put through. You are not quite sure that you 
will measure up to the standard of entry. There was evidence 
that there were people in the car who had never been in a foreign 
country before, as there was a stillness; not a noise above a whisier. 
Presently word ran through the car, "Open up your grips, the Cus- 
toms Officers are coming." We did not make a move to open any- 
thing. When the officer came to us with book and pencil in hand, 
he asked the following qrestions: Are you an American citizen? 
What is your name? Your age? Height? Weight? Ccmplexio- ? 
Your residence? Your occupation? Have you ever been in Can- 
ada before? What is your business over here? Have you any rel- 
atives in Canada? How much cash have you on your person? Have 
you any bonds, notes, or mortgages? He asked my daughter a few 
questions, and passed on. We had two large grips and a fine rifle. 
but he did not so m- ch as look toward either of them. He did not 
ask me to count my cash in his presence, but he did ask a man just 
in front of me to count his cash. Our train soon pulled en a few 
miles to Mission Junction. Here we changed cars from the North- 
ern Pacific to the Canadian Pacific. We were now fifty miles east 
of Vancouver, B. C. 

For the benefit of others who might come over this route, let 
me say, our tickets from El Paso, Texas to Calgary, Canada, co; t 
us sixty-two dollars each. But if we had bought them by way of 
Los Angeles-San Francisco, then by steamboat to Vancouver, B. C, 
by way of Seattle, it would have been about fifteen dollars cheaper, 
each. And that way we should have got to see enough of California 
to judge what It was like. Then we would have got out of sight cf 
land, at sea on the way up the coast, and got an idea what an 
ocean voyage would be like — maybe got seasick. Then at Vancouver 
we would i^^ve taken the same train that we took at Mission Junc- 
tion, Canadirn Pacin'>, east bound. 

Now wp leave R'ission Junction. We soon strike the Frazie. 
river. The country around Mission Junction is mountainous ana 
rorgh, only fit fcr 'umbering, not much good for that. We now 
follow up the Frazier river that pours down through the foothills 
of the '""'^ 'r r-ou tains to the Pacific. There is no vallev to t^' ■ 
river at all, until ve get high up on it. Then there is some gord 
country around Ash Croft. Here we would turn north to For' 
George, overlrnd route. But we keep on east to Kamlcops, and 
on acro'P ^ '^ t el' "rk mountains. The country a'"t(>r leavi^ i? KTm- 
loops is vory rough. There is grand scenery crossing the Selkirli~; 
they are the south end of the Canadian rookies. At the foot of f e 
rookies on the east Fide they break off abruptly into a rolling prairi^. 
This prairie extends east almost to Winnipeg, south to the Interna- 
tional boindpry line, and north for a hundred miles. We now follow 
down the T^ow river fifty miles to Calgary in Alberta. I had ex- 
pected to find at Calgary a small cattle man's town on open range 
country, but to my surprise I found an up-to-date city with miles of 
paved streets, electric lighted, tall buildings, street cars, snd abrut 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



forty-thoufar:d people; a!! of this pmlrie described above filed on, 
fer ced up, and much vi it under cultiTation.' A fi^W country this is, 
but it is all gone. 

JuE-t below Calgary the Canadian Pftcifle Railroad Co. has taken 
out of the Bow river a canal that waters several thousand acres of 
lEijd. There is very little irrigating done in. Canada, for there is 
net much need for it. They seldom ever fail on a good crop of 
wheat, oats and barley. Now to read Canadian literature and mag- 
azine articles one would think that one could go to Canada, get off 
£t most any railroad station, walk out a little way, and select a 
good homestead claim in a prairie country, move on to it and go to 
plowing. Now, gentle reader, do not get that idea. Up to 1900 
one could have done that, in some places, but you can not do that 
now. If you would pick all the apples off of one_ tree, pile them in 
one pile, sort them every day for a week, taking the best each time, 
by Saturday you would have a pretty sorry lot ;of apples, would you 
not? That is the way you would l\nd prairie land in Canada today 
south of the Athabaska river. Then there is no prairie land north 
of that river until you get to the Peace river. By wagon road the 
Athr.baska river is one hundred miles north of Edmonton, and Ed- 
monton is tbe most northerly point of railroad in Canada. It Is three 
Vvr^lred miles northwest from Athabaska landing to Peace river 
l&nding. That would make four hundred milets from any railroad 
»< :• re you could get any prairie lands. We atfe still at Calgary: 
our baggage is there; we have not seen it yet since we left El Paso, 
Texas. We have bought our tickets for Edmonton at Calgary, six 
dollai s each ; no rates. We step into the baggage room to have our 
baggage rechecked to Edmonton. The checking clerk takes our 
tickets and old checks, and rechecks our baggage which consisted 
of two trunks. Mind you it had not been inspected by the Customs 
Officials. To guard against any oversight and poselble delay I re- 
minded the checking clerk that our baggage was from the States, and 
fcad not yet been inspected by the Customs Officials;- He remarked, 
"That is not necessary;" so we passed on. 

We leave Calgary at 9 a. m. over the northboiind Canadian 
Pacific for Edmonton; about two hundred miles distant. The first 
fcrndred miles is gently rolling prairie, all taken up, under fence, 
and dotted all over with farm houses. Every fifteen to twenty-five 
r?i'e9 we find a new looking small town; more or les? new Improve- 
m(-nts going up. Everything looks new, substatitlal; -and up-to-date. 
Tbe people are moving around at a two-forty gait.' Everything has 
en nir of prosperity. 

N'nw we come to a eonntry that is alternate biiph and prairie, 
and the closer we get to Edmonton the mor6 bush we find. However. 
t^ e bush as well as the prairie has been taken here. The prairie 
C'urtry we have passed so far seems to be well Vatered; but the 
bush country always has more water than the prairie country in the 
'■ rr :.' lal es, rivors aid r'reeks. We arrive at Strnthfor-.a. This 
is on the south bluff of the Saskachewan river, the end of this branch 
of t'-- C. P. R. R. Here wo are put Into a railroar! tr: Yfer w.'ieon. and 
the driver was instructed to handle with care', a? we were supposed 
to be 6ome of Uncle Sara's best. What tills? there i- in f-'nor- noe. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



We now cross the river, and on top of the bluff we find the city of 
Edmonton. It is an up-to-date city in every way; with about forty 
five thiuriind reople. It is the capital of the Province of Alber'a 
We are asked by the driver what hotel we wish to go to. Some of 
us tell him to take us to the Immigration Building. Here we are 
met by a polite clerk who ushers us into the office. We are here 
registered with quite a little pomp and ceremony. We are then 
very politely handed over to a kindly old lady, the Matron, who at 
once proceeds to show us a place to sleep, a place to cook our mea'.r, 
a place to ea', a p'sce to wash our clothes, and clean ourselves up, 
a room to store our baggage in with access to it at all times, wocd. 
water, and light included. Everything was nice and clean. Then 
we thought of pay day, and I asked the kindly old soul what about 
pay day. She threw up her hands and said: "There will not be 
one cent charges fcr anything for the first seven days." Some of 
us staggered one way, while others fell the other. We went out 
and bought what we wanted, brought it here and cooked it the same 
as though we were in cur own home. Here in this town we saw 
people from every ";ivilized country. Some had land, others were 
hunting lar.d. I vi ited the land office. There was a large force 
of clerks, yet one would have to wait one hour or longer to get at- 
tention. There is a market square heer where you can buy all kinds 
of country rnd farm produce. The finest sheaf oats I ever saw v.-as 
selling in this yard, off the farmer's wagon at eight dollars per t^ n 
I stayed about two weeks in Edmonton, and during that time I 
talked v ith men on the street, with farmers, and with the men in the 
auction fales yard, of which there are two adjoining the market 
square. I got all the information I could in geenral about th-3 
country. I ran east from Edmonton tv/o hundred miles, and talked 
with many prospectors. I ran west on the Grand Trunk Pacific to 
Medici:-!e Irdge, the end of the completed railroad. Thus from 
the infcrmetion I get from the land office I found that there was not 
any prairie ]and unccupied south of the Saskachewan river. I met 
at the Immi ration ^rr>'\ a party of people who had prospected to the 
east, north, south and west "^f Edmonton for hundreds of miles and 
no prairie 'snds c^en — all thick bush and timbered land. Then 
seven of us organized into a traveling and prospectoring par:y. 
Then came t" e question as to what kind of an outfit would Le bej: 
suited f f r trrveling in the far -northwest land. We visited the mar- 
ket square, the auc'ion sales yards, and priced cattle and horse;'. 
Some of cur party wanted horses, some wanted oxen; I wanted bi^ 
cows, giving milk. People laughed at the idea of working mi k 
cows to a -vogn, to take supplies into that country; but I reas.oned 
with them. Horse? were high, and besides they would requlra 
feed tc keeii up and travel. Then the mosquitoes, flies and gnats 
would be ^prder rn horses than on cattle. Horses vere much 
more apt to get sick than cattle, then the cows would give us mi'\ 
and butter; oxen would break land all without feed, only the native 
grasses. T''^'i the "ows w uld raise calves. Then wh"n we F'ot t? +'? 
muskegs, we had heard the cattle would be much better th?n 'e 
horses. Then we had heard that cattle were scarce in that far north- , 
west land, and that Indian ponies were plentiful, and cheap. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY 



I will here introduce to you our party. His Royal Majesty, The 
Honorable, Right Reverend Sir Hollingsworth Beaconsfie'd Crabb. 
He was direct from the highlands of Scotland, had trave ed over all 
the British possessions, including, he said, Arkensaw. Then there 
V as Big Ditch from Montana in the States; Muttonhead George, who 
said he was from nowhere, and had not been long from there. 
However, before we had got to the end of our journey he admitted 
his identity, and said he was from Rackensack, and would D. D. D 
socn be rackin back. Then there was a man from Maine, who would 
gi\e no i.amc\ but we must give him a name; so as he was from 
Maine we will just call him Mac the Maniac. Then there was Miss 
Nellie Crabb, Miss Winnie Cook, and your humble servant. From 
lime to tir.Q during our travels another party would drop in and 
travel with us a few days, and then drop out as yon see we were a 
rather select party. 



BUYING OUR OUTFIT. 

Jlr. Crp.Lb and myself visited some milk dairies out of town a 
little way and selected some cows. I bought four big cows all giving 
nilk, and one young bull, good stock, being but three years old. Mr. 
Crabb bought two black Holstein cows giving milk. Big Dutch 
'lought two big oxen. He and Mr. Crabb bought the regulation horse 
harness, with bridles and bits in their mouths, and check lines. I 
•vanted the old-fashioned Texas ox-yoke, and as I could not find them 
in the market I had to make them. We now bought some tents 
and camp stoves, and established a '•amo two miles out nf town, 
tied our stock up, fed hay, and proceeded to get our outfit ready 
fcr the final dash. We bought three wagons. I made ah old-fash- 
imed cattleman's mess box in the back end of the wagon; it fi; led up 
the back end of the wagon, and had a lid on, hinges that dropped 
down when in camp. That served as a table. I had my cooking 
tools, and about one week's supplies in the mess box, ssving so 
much climl ing in and out of the wagon. I had a two-gallon mi]k 
pan that I filled with pure cream, and when traveling I put this in 
"iiy mess hex; the shaking over the trail would churn it, ani when 
I made camp I had only to take up the butter, as fine as you ever 
popped yoi'r lips over. When we went into camp we drew. straws to 
-ee who would do the cooking. The girls stacked the cir.d.- rn us, 
and it fel to my lot to do the cooking. I printed on 2 cai'dbo.ar.d 
the following.* and hung it up on the mess box: "The Bi'l of Fare, 
find the First One Who Complains About the Pie Will Have to Do the 
Cooking," and much to my sorrow there was nevei- » whimper. 
As we expected to be out a year on this trip, we loaded on all the 
supplies we could pull. I put on thirty- hundred pounds of .prth- 
virions. We had laid in a good supply of warm clothes, totocco 
?.nd pipes, a medicine chest with such medicines a? we knew how to 
ase, including a supply of homesick powders, fi-hing tackle, st-^el 
"'•f.p?, guns F.nd ammimition, a boat made cf canvas th?.t two men 
cculd pack in mal.ing a portage, sff.aH camp etoves to ?it on the 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



ground, put rne joint of pipe on for baking, frying and stewing. 

Everytliing in readires.'--, Big Dutch hooked up his oxen and took 
the lead. Mr. Crabb hooked up his two cows. I hooked up three 
cows and the bul;; tied their tails together so they could not turn 
the wroni? end foremost. However, we had drilled our stock some 
before making a start on the trail. I had appointed myself as chief 
driver, Muttonhead George and Maniac Mac as my first, and second 
assistant drivers. Once we were ready to go, I placed George en 
the grcun^l, Mac on the other side, each with a rope on the leaders. 
I moiinte 1 tlie waaoi; witii a rope on each of the wheelers, then gave 
the word, "Go!" and dropped my blacksnake on the bull a little 
too hard. He made a liuige and started the wagon. The oif wheel- 
er £et 'oac: . the lea ers both made a lunge at the same tina>. left t'--? 
trail, rnd started in the direction of the milk dairy where I had 
bought t'lem at a two-forty gait. My assistants began to pull them 
down. I shouted, "Circle to the right and let them go." The aa- 
sisrants thought I .=rjid "Whoa!" and they sat down on the rope. 
and stopped them. I then drilled the drivers a little. I told the!r. 
to circle them back to the trail, and if they ran to let them run 
as long fis they wanted to. We made another start and this time 
everything worked admirably. We got back on the trail and they 
ran for a nA\e. We then slowed them down to ten miles an hour, 
and finally got them down to a reasonable gait. 

By this time everything had it's tongue out, Including my assist- 
ants. Vy daughter was walking, and leading her pet cow. We 
stopped to rest, and to see what had become of our friends. We 
saw them, p ;niie back coming nicely. Mr. Crabb had tied his team 
to Big Dutch's wagon behind. He and his daughter were walking; 
one on each side, with a rope on each cow. When we went into camp 
that afternoon we had everything cooled down, and they were doi ig 
nicely. This was the si.xth day of May, 1910. We were havin; 
lovely sun.^;] iny weather. The first twenty miles out we had flue 
roads. Th^^ country was half prairie and half bush, considerable 
farming. At the St'rgeon river it rained on us and we laid up one 
day; this was twenty miles out. 

Let u.=^ figure some on the cost of a prospector's outfit at Edmon- 
ton. Horees are ready sale at Edmonton, and high; all the peonle 
are wise ti it, and if anyone in the vicinity of the city has anything 
they want to sell quiTk, they take it to the auctioneers. So it would 
not pay yoi; to lose any time in trying to buy any thing on the side. 
The cheapest way in the long run is, if you want to buy a her?© 
or a pair of horses, go to the sales yards and get them. They have 
three sales e;'Ch week. The reason why I went to a dairy to buy my 
cows is because the cows on sale were not fat, and I must have fa: 
stock to start on such a trip. I paid thirty-five to forty-five dollars 
a head for ^-^y cows, and I paid eighty dollars for the young bull. I 
paid forty-five dollars for my wagon at the sales yards. Big Dutch 
bought his at a store and paid ninety. Mr. Crabb paid forty for 
his on sale, twenty-five for the harness at sale. Big Dutch paid 
forty-five for his harness. Mr. Crabb paid sixty-five for two cow.s at 
a dairy. Big Dutch paid |210 for two big oxen on sale. I told him 
they were too heavy on their feet for a big load so far. He thought 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



not, so when we got three hundred miles out one ox was completely 
played out, so that he had to leave him on the trail. He then 
bought two cows, and two horses. He hooked the two cows on the 
:ongue; the two horses in the lead, led one ox and left the other 
one. He had his oxen shod when we started; I told him not to do 
that; I told him that their feet would get tender, then when their 
shoes wore out he could get no more, and that t en his Ing heavy 
cxen would play out; and I was exactly right. It happened just as 
I had told him it would. My cows, being light on their feet walked 
;.lcng with my load, chewing their cuds, still giving more milk than 
we could use. The cheapest horse that I saw sell was for ninety 
dollars; he was fourteen hands high, old, and thin in flesh. I saw 
E pair of ponies sell for $2 2 5. The best horses 1 saw sold were 
;or $600 per pair. Cows and stock cattle were the cheapest stock 
[ saw in Edmonton. They told me that my cows wojld get footsore, 
-:o dry, and die; that they would not pull a load. I told them they 
.lid not know much about cows. I have driven cows from Texas to 
Montana; they suckled big calves all the way, and were fat when I 
;jot through. Provisions are as cheap in Edmonton as they are in 
any of the western States. Good flour was $2.55 per hundred, and 
everything else in proportion. Of course after the outfitting season 
s over horses are some cheaper, as people don't want to winter 
'em. As in all farming countries, good pasturage is scarce. While 
• - the Peace river ranges the horses requir no feed at all; they 
mv! over the entire district. From April first to Augast first 
Edmonton is swarming with people hunting land. They are out- 
niiing in all kinds of ways, and going into the country in every direc- 
\rn. Many of them file on bush land rather than go so far from the 
railroad. 

After I arrived in Edmonton, and while gathering all the infor- 
mation I could before starting out, I heard of three books that had 
been written by individuals on Canada. I looked them up and 
nought a copy of each and read them. I found ore of th? parties in 
'own who wrote one of these books. It contained on'y four pages, 
and the title was "Seventeen Questions Answered." I looked this 
nan up, and he interested me in a way. I soon saw that the infor- 
^laticn he was willing to impart to me was worth nothing, but it was 
interesting to know what his business was, how he conducted it. 
't was in this way. He had set himself up as a private land guide. 
He told me that his business was to pilot people into the Peace river 
•ountry. He would have a man sign up with him, and the man 
vonld place twenty-five dollars in a bank in Edmonton, with the 
mderstanding that he, the private land guide, was to ride along in 
"ront of a bunch of men and show them the trail to Peace River 
Landing. When they got to that place, he turned back, and the 
noney was his. He told me that he expected to have one hundred 
•-'len in his party. He was out nothing en the w .y out to Peace 
iver, as this party was to board and bed hi;^i. P'i- information of 
he route was all the capital he had invested. T' at shows how 
Mfficult the people thaught it was to find the route i'lto that north- 
est country, to say nothing of the cost otherwise of >:^ettin:T in 
"ere. He admitted that there was only one route into that coun- 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



try, that a wagon could get through on. This ought to give you some 
idea of the magnitude attached to the getting into that country 
with the outfit I had. This man passed my camp on the trail on- 
hundred and fifty miles out, but I was out hunting and I did not 
see how many he had, but he had a large party, all horse teams. 

Another one of thees books mentioned above was half adver- 
tisements, and of little importance to me. The third one was written 
by a wealthy lady who had some time before gone out to the hea'.i 
of Lesser Slave Lake en a steamer, and talked with the Fren:!'. 
Cana'liaii monks, then went back to New York, and wr te the boo' 
It treated more on saving the souls of the venturesome traveler thst 
went into that northwest land, and as it treated more on caring for 
the soul than taking care of the stomach, I paid little attenti n 
to It. 

The rain is over. We will now hook up our cows and pull ov.. 
We cross the Sturgeon river, and climb a long hill out of the riv'^- 
valley. On top ve pass into a dense forest. The trees are sc thi'^1-: 
and ta'] that they overlap the trail, and we are in the shade rans^ 
of the timev Our cows are awkward, but we have no serio is trouble. 
We make a road ranch every night on this part of the trail, where 
we get feed for our stock. We are traveling very slow, gettinir 
our stork broken in. Nothing of interest occurred, and this fore?' 
extended on to within twelve miles of the Athabaska river. Here 
we came to a beautiful little river with a pretty valley, and sottt^ 
farms. We camped over night here. The next afterncon we c?'n-' 
to the bluff over the Athabaska river. We locked two wheels o! 
our wagons, then rough-locked one wheel, and slid down a 'long 
hill and camped in the edge of a village, in the valley of this mighty 
river, over night. 

We had no sooner got ourselves comfortably fixed in camp, wher, 
we were visited by a French Canadian monk. He made m^ny in- 
quiries of us as to where we were from, where we wer going, what 
we intended t" 'In and many questiors of a religious vatnr^. F' 
finally wrund up by saying that his church hoped that in the near 
future to be able to take care of the souls of the people who were 
going into that fsr northwest land. We laid over here the next (iB^^ 
and visited around the village and the ship yards, where a large fore- 
of men were at work building boats to carry freight up and down th>^ 
river — ri-iostly dov>n the river. All the freight going into the nnrth 
and northwest territories is hauled on wagons in summer from Ei- 
montcn, then sent up the rivre to northwestern points, on steamer^. 
and it is sent down the river in York boats, into Lake Athsb^sks 
across that lake, and down the Great Slave river to Great Slivf 
lake. Then it is put on steamers, and sent out to all the Hudsor 
Bay ConiTiany's fur trading posts all around the lake. Then 'ir 
Into the Mackenzie river, and down that river to the Arctic c^Tan 
supplying all the trading posts along that river. The distance fro: 
<; '' .'' r!sl:a landing to the mouth of the Mackenzie river, where ? 
•'■nnties into the Arctic ocean, or Mackenzie bay, is two thon.san ' 
. — CO. This freight is carried in York boats and stesTiie^g 

Canada is about one-third larger than the United States. T'"- 
United . States has a population of ninety million. Canada has f. 



I 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



population of only ten million people. To give you some idea of 
the vastness of tliis far northwest land, and how sparsely settled it 
;s, nine-tenths of the population of Canada is within the following 
territory: Take a Canadian map, draw, a straight line from Prince 
Rupert on the Pacific Coast to Quebec on the Sf .Lawrence, and nine- 
tenths of the population is south of that line, and cne-tenth is north 
of it. A York boat is about fifty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and 
six feet deep; they are managed with oars and Icng poles in going 
down stream. There are about fifty of these boats sent down the 
Atabaska river each year to take in supplies, and out of that number 
only about five ever return. They only bring enough of them back 
to bring out what furs they pick up at the Hudson Bay Company's 
posts. 

The Hudson Bay Company was established in 16 70. This Com- 
pany was organized for the purpose only of carrying on a fur trade 
with the Indians in north and northwest Canada. In the early days 
;t slipped up on the blind side of the king of Eng:and, and obtained 
a title to about two-thirds of Canada, not including British Columbia, 
but in later years England got most of this land back. Up to recent 
years this company had a monopoly on the fur trade of Canada. 
They now have a competitor in Revillion Bros. For two hundred. 
.venrs the Hulson Bay were dictators in th^t v^^ t doninir. They 
oppressed the natives who were Indians and French Canadians, and 
became vastly rich. In 1670 il:ey established tra V'ng posts around 
Hudson Bay, and gradually puthed out until they had trading posts 
-mattered all over the northern parts of Caiia !a. They are still there 
buying furs. Canada is a great fur country and always will be. 

At Athabaska Landing we talk with the native Indians, prospec- 
tors and the Canadian Royal Northwest Mounted Police. We have 
arrived at the conclusion that this is about the end of the trail; 
that on account of all freight traffic on the trail stopping at this. 
•inint, there is scarcely any trail beyond this, only a blazed route. 
That didn't sound very good to us, as we had had pretty Fmooth 
•ai ing so far as compared to later on. There" is lying at the pier 
here now a steamboat, the "Midnight Sun." It plies up and down 
the Athabaska river. It runs up this river to the mouth of the 
Lesser Slave river. There they make a portage of sixteen miles up 
that river to the head of the rapids. There they reload back on to 
another steamboat called "The Northern Light," which plies up that 
river, passing out into Lesser Slave Lake, thence up the lake one 
h:indred miles to head of steamboat navigation. As this ncint lavs 
on our route we ship most of our stufif by this boat to head of the 
'ake. • ' 7 , 

We here begin^to realize' more fully the magnituc'e of r.iv under- 
taking. From here oh "wQ"'strike settlements at i-itervals of about 
one hundred miles. We can get no more feed for our stoch, only 
'.he native grasses. We make hobbles, and g':'t a hell for each animal, 
• nd get a chemical preparation to put on stock to keen off mosquitoes, 
lies and gnats, which the natives tell us v.ill er.t us nh a"iv^ wh :n we 
-^rcss the river and get into the big swamps. I asked if it '.vas vea'.'y 
.^ bad as that, and one man told us that he was making a trip 
through that country v, ith oxen, and his oxen got away, and while out 



10 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



hunting them he came upon a fresh carcass of an ox. He heard a 
noise overhead, and in looking up he saw a mosquito sitting in a tree. 
The moFqiiito had eaten his ox, and was sitting in thi-; tree picking 
his teeth with an ox horn. Another man told us they used tents for 
jails in that country in summer. He said to arrest a man, take 
off all his clothes, put him in a tent, that he would never dare come 
out for fear the mosquitoes would get him. By this time I noticed 
that my assistant drivers were getting extremely nervous, and their 
eyes looked like two fried eggs in a mud hole. I thought best not 
to make any further interrogation. 

LEAVING ATHABASKA LANDING. 



Our arrangements now being complete, we drove one team at a 
time on to the ferryboat and crossed the river. Here we had to 
double teams to get up the hill. The first few miles out was an open 
timbered country, 1 eing very high bluff over the river. Here we 
found quite n sett'en^ent, all American.?. The remark was made that 
it was going to rain. 1 observed that there was a clear sky. I theu 
understoo:! the icl" ns t'lis Eettleixiexit wera all Ameri ar. Negroe.-, 
representing a dark cloud. Five miles out we got our first intro- 
duction to a gnuine muskeg. Moskeg is composed of a genera! 
mixture of decayed vegetation of every description, rotted logs, mixed 
with earth, and thoroughly wet. It is always found in the dark 
dismal swamps, of which a great part of the whole of Northern 
Canada is composed. Here we go into camp, and make some investi- 
gations. We now fird that cattle have a great advantage over horses, 
in getting through the moskeg. We have music here in the tone 
of wild geese, ducks, and many other wild game birds, mingled with 
which is the coarse croaking of bullfrogs and smaller type. Here 
is where our Texas high top boots come in good play. Mr. Clrabb and 
I had put our daughters in such boots before leaving Edmonton. 
This moskeg is in streaks of thirty feet to one mile wide. I take 
the lead as usual. Myself and assistants are wading, as our cows 
are not very well used to such a trail. A mile of this and we come 
to a cordumy. This is poles laid on the ground, close together, to 
serve as a bridge. We have this at intervals of a few hundred yard^ 
to two miles, until we arrive at Lesser Slave Lake. 

The intervening country is slightly elevated ground, and gently 
rolling ridges. Unless I mention prairie, gentle reader, you may 
know we see none. Then the country is all about the same as above 
described. Water every few miles, and we are fortunate in finding 
the very firest of vV.d grasses everywhere. In two or three hours 
our stock are all fuT, and lay down to rest. I will tell you when 
we meet the flies, and mosquitoes. At intervals of three to five 
miles we fi'^d small openings around some small lake, oi along some 
little branch or creek, large enough to make camp. Always the finesi 
of grasses, and in many places wild pea vine. The first day in the 
moskeg we camp in a small opening in the timber where the forest 
fires had passed over in years gone by and killed the timber. We 
prop? p crepk and camp, tie a rope across the bridge to keep cur 
?tock from crossing back during the night. We now hobble every- 
thing at right. Plenty of fine wood at hand at every camp ground. 

I have ere extra cow. She is an extra fine milker, and is the sirl's 
pet. Now when we struck the moskeg, my daughter was afraid to 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 11 



ride on the wagon, so it was walk or ride her pet cow. I put a roll 
oi bedding wrapped in a tarpaulin Texas cowboy otyle, on this pet 
cow, caught the girl by the foot, and put her on the cow. I tied a 
loop in a rope, threw it across the pack for stirrups; fixed a bridle 
of a rope, gave the girl a long switch, and told her to keep up with 
the wagon. After the cow had pitched around some, turned over a 
few dead logs, rode down a few saplings, she hit the trail for the 
other cattle, bawling like a wild yearling, and the girl sticking to the 
pack like a leech. When we saw this I suggested that there must 
'le a grass bur under the pack. Muttonhead George grunted and 
said, "Grass bur nothing; the cow is not accustomed to that." This 
ouw packed a fifty pound roll of bedding every day. She followed 
the wagon just as a calf would. Every time we came to a moskeg, 
or creek, or when the girl wanted to ride; she jumped on and off 
and rode as long as she wanted to. At noon the pack was taken 
off so the cow could lay d6wn. This was a fine milk cow; she never 
'ailed in her milk for an eight hundred mile drive. I paid forty-five 
dollars for her, and sold her for $110. 

Every day is about the same on this part of the trail until we 
reach Lesser Slave Lake. The order of the day was. Rise about 
sun-up, milk the cows, have breakfast, hook up and drive until about 
o1 ven o'clock, then turn everything wild loose, with a bel! on every 
thing, as the bush is so dense that if one animal laid down one 
i^nt hunt for an hour unless you heard the bell tap. Then about 
two p. m. hook up and drive until the sun was about an hour high; 

'^ times earlies, sometimes later; according to grass and water. 
After we had crossed the Athabaska river, and struck out into that wiid 
Uvi .inhabitated country, the timber in many places was so tall and 
thick that it made the trail resemble a tunnel through a hill more 
tl^Rn a wagon road. In many places for miles and miles the timber 
was so thick that two wagons could not pass each other without 
chopping trees or brush. This we had to do a few times when we 
Hi to meet some returning traveler. One poor feilow wrote 
lack to his mother in the States that he would come back home as 
sot n as he could find room to turn his wagon around. 

We came to a horsehead stuck up on a pole by the roadside^ 
with this inscription on it: "Cheer up! Only one thousand milea 
of thip, then we strike God's country." Another time we observed 
c'ope by the roadside a mound of earth, thrown up re-^embling a 
grave. There was a stick driven in the ground nt one end of it, and 
a board nailed on it. On the board v,as this !n.'rcrii)ti( n: "ifei-e 
ies the remains of John Jones: he died on the tenth d.:y nf May. 
1910. His death was caused by Pence river fever." Further on 
up the trail we came to another mound of earth resemb'in-r the other 
one. On a piece of box tacked on a slab, was this in-criiiii n: "i 
qm Bill Smith, the last of the Jones' party. Aonoiding ;:t v.<y feel- 
ings now I will not be able to bury myself; so vhen you find me 
will you kindly sink me in the nioskes:." Ad rn another board 
below this one was this inscription: "I have cau.'ed to be p t oat 
of sight Bill Smith, according to his last wishss. After n careful 
r^iagnosis by me I find that he died of a reiapse of Peace river •'ever, 
Signed, J. Ramboozle, Veterinsry." We f(.uiid others of a siinilai' 



12 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



character during our travels. I mention these incidents to show you 
tftat others have at least attempted the passage of this trail. This 
is also the trail over which some of the Klondikers passed. We saw 
evidences of them in the way of old broken-down carta and equipage, 
and carcasses of dead horses. 

I am sorry to have to report here a very sad occurrence. I had 
noticed for several days that ray first assistant driver was on the 
wane as he was no longer the life of our little party, and to lose him 
would be a great calamity. Muttonhead George could see an Indian 
further around the hill than any of us; he could shoot closer to a bear 
to miss him than any of us. Many feats he could i>erform that the 
average man would marvel at. He was a valuable asset, and we tried 
to revive his waning spirit, and had partly suceaded when we came 
upon this first grave. After that he relapsed, and we were having 
poor luck with him when unfortunately we eame upon the second 
grave. We were all standing around the gj--ave when I noticed that 
George had taken off his bat. Presently he moved slowly off to camp, 
as we had camped not far away. Here he admitted his Identity. 
He talked to us of his dear old home in Arkaa&aw: of the dear ones 
he had left be-hind. When he first went to Tex.^s then they had 
given him up for lost. Oh, if he was only uotv back in Texas, he 
would be satisfied, as goodness knows that was wild enotigh. That 
night he completely went under, a-nd refused to be comforted. My 
homesick powders proved too weak in his case. A few dtays later 
he took a steamer down the Athabaska, aad turned his face toward 
dear old Arkansaw, and vowed that he wouM never roam again. 
He bid us a sad farewell, and made a run for a steamer cabin. 

We are slowly creeping aim? ov^er the tratl witlji some better 
success than Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith had. Wfe are traveling up 
Lefiser Slave river. We arrive at the head of the rapids: portage: 
This place is known as Norris Landing. Hese we camp over night. 
We hook up the next moTning, and hit the troll. We got a short 
distance when one of Big Dutch's oxen gets very sick. He laid 
down in the trail with the harness on. I got into r^y medicine chest, 
got out a bottle of chloroform, put a teaspoonful in a i>int bottle of 
water, drenched him in the nose. He had eaten a poi5on weed. We 
waited on him a few honrs, then pulled oh a short distance, and 
went into camp. We fished and hunted that afternoon and killed 
a moose. The next morning the ox was all right. We pass on 
until we come to within eight miles of the foot of Lesser Slave Lake. 
Here we come to Moskeg creek by name. I drive into It and stick. 
We hook on all four teams and pull one wagon at a tims across, then 
camp for noon. Here a band cf Indians pa^s u^: they are moving. 
The men weer riding the ponies, the squaws and children were 
walking. They had quite a bunch of dogs with them. They are a 
shaggy looldng It, as they are the dogs u^.ed by them to pull their 
sleighs in winter; bu they n^^w hn.v.e them pafPe 1 Kverv dog has a pack 
tied on his back; as much as he can stand under. We watch them 
cross the creek. Thev make no halt, but the whole cavalcade plunges 
into the mud and water. The squaws are driving the dogs all the 
time, the children bringing up the rear. Every dog was wearing a 
sleigh bell which added music to the scene. We here come on to 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS Tai>AY. 



i lovely U*Ve valley which extends on to the foot of the lake. This 
ralrle Is >r.vered with a luxuriant growth of gra.-3 ^'andin^ twelve 
•,o eighteen inches high and waving like a wheat field. 

We arrive at the foot of Lesser Slave Lake. Here we find a 
'^udsons Bay trading post, a rolice station, an Indian village, and some 
(■^reneh Canadian trappers. The sight of so much water at one view 
Is new to UP. We go into camp on a velvet strip of grass bordering 
!he lake. Tlere we see some barefooted Indian squaAvs fishing. They 
' ave netB set far out in the lake. They get in Indian canoes and 
attend them. We buy some fish from them more to please them, 
8s we are not fish hungry, for we have had all the fish and game 
we wanted all the time, since crossing the Athabaska river; we have 
Villed three moose,, two deer, geese, ducks, and prnirie chickens. 

The fir' t four miles here is fine. We have a lovely sandy beach, 
•:0w we Ffril e stone from the size of a marble to that of a barrel. 
To describe the roadbed properly, say you have a bed of loose stone 
foo feet deep, one hundred feet wide, of the sizes above mentioned; 
crive on to this bed of stone and try to travel. The stone would 
-iin, or roll under the stocks feet. They v/ere unr.b'e to keep their 
footing. Often a stone would get under a wheel, that would cause 
.he wheel to slide instead of turn. We made on'y two miles of this 
'^^p first hrlf d.qy. This bed of stone extended froi^ t^e dense timber 
on one side to the water In the lake on the other. A iistan-^e of from 
•hree hundred feet to half a milo. We could not get into the timber, 
■ nd it woiiUl not be beEt to g/^t into the -p.lce eo wp h^d to make the 
liest we could of the stone. The first night we cam ed on the stone, 
no feed. We tied our stock up and lay down on the stone to rest. 
t three n. m. we hooked u • and drifted on for two miles it 
'lore, and came to a small graspy flat. Here we camped and had 
breakfast and dinner. We had only gone one-fourth mile out of this 
'-.r'-p until lA-p dropped into a deep sand bed. Here we worked hard 
nd mpde r.bout three miles. We came to a plough, and made 
"•smp for ni^'ht; good feed here. Leaving this camp we had a slougb 
'"or a few mi es — not boggy, yet water and mud caused from the 
•7';elted snow in the timber abovp. and seeping through the earth to 
'he lake. A few miles of this and then stone again; then deep sand. 
When on the stone we could scarcely see rny siirn of where other 
-.vagons had passed. The same vay with the .=and. From the foot 
of the lake to its head we had tbi? kind of tr.nll. Only this narrow 
passage betwof n the den^e fnrp^f- on rnp side, and the lake on 
'he othr. Eight to ten miles we rame to n moskeg creek emptying 
into the lake. They are always mean to cross. We passed several 
Tndian camps on the shores of thi>= lake, who were catching fish and 
drying them for winter food. There were mnny varieties of fish 
In the lake, but the Indians spemec to save only the white fiFh, which 
were very fine. The sizes they fared weishi»d from six to twelve 
pounds. They u<^pd nets altosptler in nt ; •;■:- th^se f.'-h. They 
way we got our fish, we wo'ild v.ade into t^e lake in rlaces where 
here was tall grass, and shoot them with a rifle, they being very tame 
'"d easy to l;!'l. If we wantp] fiPh f-r dir.pr wp hm ii.nlf r. dczpn 
"n camp in a few ninutes. Ducks were nlway? plentiful, find some 
geese on the Iske. We only saw tvro rabbits while in Canada. Peo- 



14 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY.. 



pie there told us that the rabbits only came around once every 
seven years, and unfortunately for habbit hunting this is leap year. 
They say that during every seven years rabbits corae in, in great 
numbers, then they have a disease that kills thera all off. We left 
Edmonton May sixth, and arrived at the foot of Lesser Slave Lake 
June fifth, covering two hundred and twenty-five tni'es. 

Gentle reader, I told you before that I would let you know when 
we met the mosquitoes — they have now presented their hiVs The 
middle of the day is now very warm. Up to now we have had lovely 
weather; camp fires felt good nights and mornings. We could enjoy 
a fire yet in the early morning, but the order of travel now is to rise 
at three a. m., drive until nine; camp, and have breakfast and dinner 
in same camp. At two p. m. hook up, drive until five, then camp for 
the night. The mosquitoes meet us about six a. m., and by nine they 
quit us. Then a large black fly takes care of us through the middle 
of the day. A large yellow gnat also works in the middle of the day. 
About five p. m. they turn in, and the mosquito compp back and stays 
until about nine p. m.. Then we are not molested until six a. m. 
This is the rule now, but as the weather sjets wavmer they change 
their schedule; they then work earlier and later. We wear mosquito 
netting over o\ir heads and down to our ahou'der^; and gloves. 
The first thing we do when we go into camp in the evening is to set 
fire to some rotten los:? to drive the mosq'iltoes rwav. If they are 
very bad the stock wi!l graze a little while, then come and stand 
close in the smok^^ M"ti' t^f>v got r'd of thRPi. \ft"r thpy hiv^ flni.shed 
grazing for the nisrht, they rome up and lay near camp; we do not 
hobble anything n^n-; ^v.-^t turn everything fjootloose, day or night. 

After fifteen dfv^ of hard struggle in coming around Slave Lake 
we arrive at Shaw'p Poi^t landing. This is the head of steamboat 
navigation on the lake; but the lake extends on some twenty miles 
further. Here we find o--r freight that we nhi^^nel from Athabaska 
Landing. We load it or^ our wngons and rui"! on to the extreme 
end of the lake. Here ve go into camn, for one week, as we are 
all about played out. and our sto'^k needs rest. From Shaw's Point 
steamboat landirg to thi?: camn there is a fringe <"f prairie all the 
way up, bordering' the I'lke. Ne^r here is tke little cosmopolitan 
Village; it Is mrr" evenlv dlvi^'ed with a c^-^srlnmerated mixture 
df nationalities than any village I ever =!^'v. It contains three hun- 
dred souls, exclusive of Indians, rf which thor^v i< quite a village, 
mpstlX^halfbreed?. The name of the village i?; Grrouard. Here is a 
Hudson Bay and Ppvillinn Brothers' trading '^i^':-- an Indenenden* 
store, a' hotel, meat market, blacksmith shop, postofllce, a saloon and 
dahceball. There !? i lar^e Cathr-Mc Mi^^Pif^n l.ere preesided ovr by 
old-fashioned French Canprli.nn n^m'--^. This mi-^ion was established 
here many year? t^^o, rn'l it 'r'^". '^'-^d t^^e n^"--i^ '""ti' it la rich. 
They have good '^n?Mirfr=!. a sftw n^i'l, a farm, and about three hun- 
dred head of cattle. There Is al^ an English ehur'i'h Mission here, 
pompetltors of the nptholic. Thev rire not so r1 h as the poor Indian 
has; been bled so Ions that hi=! b'^tod is sretting quite thin. This 
has been hendqnarters f^r the fi'r traders for " long time., draininiJ 
all the. country to th" n>>rth and northwest of !t to fha Intern-tionnl 
bduBdary line of Canada end Alaska. This is also a branch head- 



THE CANADIAN NORTITW^EST AS IT IS TODAY. 15 



quarters for the Canadian Royal Northwest Mounted Police. There 
is also a court here, composed of three Justices of the Peace. This 
Rcyal Court Is vested with the same powers as that of a District 
Court in the United States, it havin"? the jiower to di&pose of the 
body only. Then the Catholic and English Church Missions step in 
and wrangle over what disposition shall be made of the poor 
trembling soul. The right of the disposition of the soul, settled, car- 
ries with it the rights to the chattels and goods left behind. Gentle 
reader, this paragraph is only hearsay, as I have not yet passed 
through that ordeal. 

While we are here in this camp let us take stock. This point is 
f*onsidered half-way ground between Edmonton and the center ot 
attraction in the Peace river country. Mr. Crabb and myself have 
iipei eroor] dairy cows, all giving milk in mal-ing this trip, and after 
cne week's rest here on fine native grasses, and no other feed since 
rircssing the Athabaska river. Our cows today look almost as good 
Ts they did the day we started; and they have failed very little in 
their milk. Big Dutch had big heavy oxen, and shod to start with. 
Ox'T cows all barefooted. Dutch managed by a scratch to get Into 
ramp after us pulling him more than he pulled us. His oxen are so 
'completely played out that he is compelled to leave one here. Here 
he bought two small horses, paying three hundred dollars. He 
! ought two small cows, unbroke, paying for the two ninety dollars. 
ITe bought one set of second hand harnass paying forty dollars. For 
- nr> pet of stretchers for lead team, he paid nine dollars. He 
'Tool'ed the cows on the tongue, the horses in the lead, and had no 
"'•oi^ble after that. Then as we came around Slave Lake a man 
; assed us. He had two fine large young mares and light load. At 
'l:is point these mares were unable to pull his wagon any further, 
-nd he bought a pair of horses, paying a handsome price. The 
I'corle Pt this point are wise to this state of affairs, and they lay 
•"or .1: ?t rucb chances to rob the weary traveler. The blacksmith 
■■ome? in for his share he told one of our party that his blacksmith 
^.' si ooft him, laid down at the shop here, one hundred and twenty- 
^-I'e dollars per ton. Five dollars for shoeing one two-bit horse. 
For nU other work in proportion. 

W? ile in this camp we attended an annual feapting, and war 
TfTipe by the Indians. Prior to this gathering invitations had been 
F nl rut frr hundreds of mi'es to all Indians to participate in this 
irrar^d rally of the Red man. These Indians are called the Cree 
'ndiars. On the little prairie near our camp the feasting ground 
• as <^oif<r^tPd. F ^r ppverrjl days the T'i'''*-7-'.s bar! ' '^cn eathering 
'n. Ftre+''bing their teepees, until It had the apnearance of an old 
•'■■^e Inrlisn stronghold on our own western borders. However, It 
-Id not have the fascination for me as it did for some, as it brought 
^nme to me the memories of scenes in my boyhood days. Many of 
•••Vic'i ve'-e made sad to me, by the Red man. As I was once cap- 
Mi^-ed by the Comanchies, when a small bny and carried far into 
'' eir fastnesses, and held a prisoner for several mrnths. On the 
'Spring dav there was a grand parade l^v 5.11 ; cpeaMng bv the big 
"hiefs, and medicine men. TlTen fea?tin?. then horpe racing, then 
♦■o^ptirisr and wpr dancing, until a late hour at night. The se^^ririd 



16 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



day opened as the first, and about the same routine, all day and until 
a late hour at night. The third day opened as the first and second, 
only there was an absence of warriors, who had mistaken firewater 
for coffee. Then their old ponies presented a more or leas sad 
appearance on account of over indulgence. The Chief having taken 
in the situation, had issued orders cutting time from two-forty to 
five minutes. Palefaces were much in evidence. Toward the close 
of the third day everything began to wane, but the Indians, and 
merry making kept up until a late hour at night. The fourth day 
opened with farewell speechmaklng; then came the general parting 
of friends, the striking of tents and the scattering of seven hundred 
Indians. Dust was rising from trails in every direction by depart- 
ing Indians for their wigwams, some of them taking canoes and 
crossing the lake. 

We receive a visit from the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. The 
officer takes out a book and pencil, and proceeds to question each 
individual as follows. Your name, where from, age, where are you 
going, what nationality, are you going to be come a citizen of Can- 
ada? where did you buy your wagon, your cows, oxen or horses? the 
brands on each anima;. One object in this is to apprehend fugi- 
tives, another is to assist in finding your stock if stolen from you. 
This is a good thing. They also warned us to be very careful to water 
out all campfires before leaving them. These officers are very po- 
lite, and will give you any information they can. 

There is a srinJl rr:Mrie abnut twenty miles west of this point. 
Back of this little frinire of prairie, around this end of the lake, 
the timber sets in the same as that we have passed through, except 
that the country i? higher, more rolling, and better drained. The 
moskegs are not so frequent. Then as all the freight for the Peace 
river country is hauled in wagons, from the head of the lake, one hun 
dred miles to the Peace river landing, the tr.il has been chopped 
out, and worked so that when it is not raining the trail is fairly 
good to Peace River Landing. Here all freisrht is again put on the 
steamer (Peace river), and shipped up the river as far as Fort St. 
John, three hundred mi'es. Then form Peace river Landing down 
the river to Fort Vermilion about the same distance. This steamer 
can not go any further up, or down the river on account of rapids. 
Navigation opens en the Peace April 20th end closes October first. 
About October 1, 1910, the Canadian Govern*?ient will complete a 
telegraph line from Edmonton to Peace river landing. 

We are now ready to break camp, and start for the far-famed 
Peace river, one Imndrerl miles r rth. We fr^ •^ow heavily loaded 
as we have gotten all onr snpplies on board; but there being no 
rock or sand on the trail we move right along. In case that it 
should be said that we got loFt, and did not find the best route 
from Edmonton to Peace river landing, to thr.t I will say, that the 
Government telegraph line had followed, ?nd fs still following, ex- 
actly the trail we followed, all the way from Edmonton to Peace river 
landing, except In passing Slave Lake, we take the north side as 
there Is not so nnif^h niOnl-ec. Then there are n 1 anger us rivers to 
cross, whereas on the south side the route of the telegraph line, 
we would have three dangerous rivers to cross which would necesai- 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT 13 TODAY. 




CART ON STONY TRAIL DESCRIBED ELSEWHERE. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 17 



tate the building cf three different rafts; cr in other words, a raft 
at each river, and perhaps the cutting down of six river bluffs; hence 
our choosing the north side. The first day out we make a little 
prairie called Pea Vine prairie. This prairie contains about one and 
a half sections of land. Here we find verj' fine feed. The pen vii^ 
is extra fine. Next we come to the Little Heart river. Here there 
is a small opening, about one section. Next we come to what is 
called Cabin prairie. This prairie contains one-half section of land. 
These are what they call prriries in this country. Next we come 
to what is called Little prairie. This is in extent about ten miles 
long, and varies from the width of the trail to one mile wide. We 
are within twenty miles of the Peace, there being no difference in 
the looks of the country. We seldom travel up or down a creek 
or river, but seem to follow the highest ridges, whereas to get on 
the lower ground one would get all seepage from the higher ground. 
We have not seen one mountain so far; much cf the country is so 
level that the snow water never gets off of the face of the country 
from winter to winter. That is the cause of so much muskeg and 
swamp land. The timber is ahvays so dense that we cannot see far 
enough in any direction to tell what the country looks like at a 
distance. To sum it up more correctly, we can only see the country 
at our feet as we pass over it. A man passes us here, and tells us 
that we are within seven miles of the river. We can't believe it, 
as the whole country seems to be so level. We have not seen a creek 
or draw for twenty ml'es, the timber and underbrush, if you will 
permit me to say, is so thick that we could not stick a butcher 
knife through it. Vnd 9n tall are the trees that we can't see the 
sun until eleven a. m. It is now raining. This man tells us that it 
would be very dangerous for us to try to go down the river bluff if 
the trail is wet, as cur wagons might slip off of the trail. If so 
we would be goners, "'because," said he. " it is a mile from top 
to bottom of the bluff." We drive on and on, no signs of a river, or 
even so much as a creek. Presently we see an opening in the 
timber ahead. Then we come upon the bl iff over this mighty 
Peace river. It has quit raining now, and the sun i.s shining. We 
make a slight turn, and come in full view of the river looking west. 
The sun is shining on it and vve stop to look long at this beautiful 
sight. Standing here and looking up the river, the country seemed 
to get higher and higher, as thcugh the last view up the river was 
the top of the mountain, far in the distance. Then comes this river, 
winding doAvn through the green hills, with the sun shining on it, 
made it resemble a great shining silver cord. We can not see far 
down the river, as it makes a short turn to the north, which direction 
it keeps for three hundred miles. From the ten of the bluff where 
we now stand, to the top of the bl 'T on the .opposite side of the river, 
appears to be five or six miles. T' is depresslm, or canon that the 
river passes through is covered v. ith timber, from the top of the 
bluff, to the water's edge on each Fide. At tli-^ point there is no 
valley to the river. We now travel pbout two miles along this bluff, 
and to where the trail begins the descent of t^:e river bluff. Here 
we find water and grass, and an opening in the timber; and go into 
camp for the night. 



18 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



While we are in this camp let me say a little more about the 
country from Edmonton here. As I feel that too much can not be 
said about the country. After you have read my description of the 
country, then construe this meaning according to your own ideaa. 
For an illustration, I will say, if this part of the country could be 
transformed from the almost densely wooded country to a prairie 
country, so that we could see it, then In my opinion we would call 
a great portion of it a high rolling prairie with occasional high hills, 
but no mountains. And a portion of it would be a flat marshy 
prairie country, resembling that of the south of Texas laying along 
the Gulf of Mexico. This trail that we have traveled was evidently 
first laid out by the early trappers and hunters. Probably piloted 
by the native Indians, and as this trail seems to follow the highest 
y;round possible, is evidence that they laid great stress on marshy, 
raoskeggy country. Should they follow up or down the streams, 
^s it is a great custom in the States, especially as we did In early 
days, then where so much snow falls on this level country that has 
no drain, it simply melts and stands on the ground from winter to 
winter, causing the earth to be cold and wet. This cold, wet land 
would not produce stuff if it was cleared of the timber. I believe 
that most of this timbered land is fine land, and much of the wet 
land if it could be drained. Occasionally the trail runs along on top 
of some high bluff over a creek. Here we can get a view of the 
country for perhaps several miles, but we see no openings in the 
timber, no prairies, no valley along the creek. There seems to be 
dense timber from bluff to bluff, on and on across the country as far 
as we can see, and only in a few places is the timber large enough to 
be of merchantable value. From fine underbrush to trees a foot 
through at stump, this timber is so thick that it grows very tall. It 
is common to see this timber a hundred feet tall, and not a limb 
r,n it for eighty feet up. Some of it has only an armfull of brush 
on its to]). There are several kinds of timber in Canada,' but the 
great majority of it is called, poplar, white poplar or aspen. This li 
tl>e tall tree that is so common everywhere. Then there Is a i^reat 
deal of 1'ine. many varieties. The merchantable timber is found 
F.long the largest rivers and lakes. This poplar or aspen has no 
tap root, but the roots grow so close to the surface that as soon as 
t'^ey get any size tbe wind blows them over. I have seen thi< 
■i bf^r lpy:ng so thick on the ground that it is next to impossible for 
a dome-jtic! animal to travel across country at all. If you should 
'"■'-'e a lur^f, or cow jn thi? country, they would n< t attempt to go 
fr-r thrcn.^h the wo« ds. They would have to com«^ out on the trail 
"o rrav 1. I 'oave spot in this moskeg country n growth of moss two 
fe«.>t thi-.k. In waikinir over this country you would set your foot 
! n this noss. It wotiid mash down a foot, then you would hare 
to rai«e the other foot to get It on top of the moss for the next step; 
then tbe next step the same and so on. 1 can not say how exten!«lve 
this kind of country is as 1 only investigated a few steps of It. I have 
'■pon laying in some parts of this country old dead logs that were 
^^ree feet through, and there was not a live tree standing closer than 
a mile of them. That shows that at one tirr.e there was large 
timber where now there is only brush; and it Is my opinion that 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 19 



had there never been a forest fire In this country timber would be 
very large here, as the land is fine and there is plenty of inoisturi>. 
There would be only one thing against it, and that would be the 
cold; however, I have seen very large trees far above the Arctic circle 
in Canada. Our trail was generally so crooked that we could 
scarcely ever see more than a quarter of a mile ahead. Many turna 
in the trail were so short that I could not make il with two pair of 
cows, and have them all pull at the same time, and as in many 
of these places the condition of the trail was s-uch that it required 
every animal to pull. So in order to have room to swing the lead- 
ers to make these turns, I had to chop timber. 

Before we left Edmonton Big Dutch thought to kill two birds 
with one stone. He would need a hayfraine^ so he buys the lower 
part of a hay frame, with solid floor, sets it i>u hl^. wagon, gets some 
large size bows to extend from outside of frame to outside, buys a 
tent to fit over these bows, the walls of the tent extendin,:^ to the 
ground on each side, and when in camp he would drop the walls 
down, and sleep under tl>e wagon. Now, before we had got to Ata- 
habaska Landing over the best freight road in Canada north of Ed- 
monton, these bows were all broken off of his wagon, and the tent 
was so badly torn that he threw it away to save weight. The second 
day out from Athabaska Landing it became necessary for him to 
aaw this frame to the width of the standards on his wagon. In places 
two trees would stand so does together that a notch was cut in each 
tree to admit the passage of the wagon hubs between them. Mr. 
Crabb and I started out with the regulation wa.^on bows on our 
wagons, but they soon parted company with us. We then cut some 
willow poles, and when it rained we bent the poles over our wagons 
for bows, taking them down after the rain. Many times when I 
would get stuck and if a cow would break a yoke bow I would step 
out to the bush, cut a wii'ow pole, bend it in the yoke, wrap a piece 
of moose hide around it to keep it from slipping through the yoke; 
all done in a few minutes, and was again shouting, "Lie low bullies." 

A few times we co; e to a deep, narro-,v gulch that was so 
narrow, and deep with a bog hole at the bottog, that it was neces- 
sary to hook on four pair cf cattle. In this ca.se when the wagon 
would be on one bank the lejid team wouUl be on the opposite 
bank. When pulling in this shape the swing chain would be six 
or seven feet from the ground, then the mid;i'e team would have 
to walk on their hind feet with their front feet several feet in the 
air until they could get to the level again. Fortunately for the 
weary traveler this torrit^rv lays iu?t over, a'-.d bey ml the humane 
range. Another serious difficulty that hampered ns in those tight 
places, was that my assistant drivers were not familiar with the 
bull whackers vocabulary 

Let us return now to my carrip on the bluff overlooking the 
Peace. On the morning of the fourth of Jn'y we hiCk, and rough 
lock both hind wheels of our wagons, and begin to descend the 
bluff which is still vet from the r.nin the day before. With careful 
management we have no trouble in getting to the foot of the bluff. 
Scattered along the river bank vr-e find a sma'l village, Hudson Bay, 
and Revillion Bro's. fur trading post, post office, blacksmith shop 



20 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



and police barracks, also an Indian village. We went into camp 
this July 4th, hcieted the Stars and Stripes, got out our rifles and 
began a little target practice to give tone as we had no firecrackers. 
We were yet unobserved by the sleepy villagers. However, the 
roar of my 45-70 eoon Vrought a orov/d, mo-tly half-breeds. Pres- 
ently a spider-legged gny spied the American flag floating over 
our camp. Whereupon, he told us we would have to put the English 
Jack above our flag. I was arguing the matter with him as we had 
never been taught to put the English Jac'c above the Stars and 
Stripes In the meantime Mac, the maniac, had slipped around and 
owered our flag: We resumed our practice. We noticed that Mac 
could no longer hit the target. We at once knew the reason. And 
to spare his modoLty ve called off the mati-h. About this 
'Ime I noticed that our girls in camp had again hoisted our flag- 
this time with a large solid red cloth floating above it. I apologized 
to this guy by telling him that these girls were from Arkansas, 
and did not know the war was over. He told us that he was not 
an oflScer, that he was only telling us what would be required of us. 

While here we p^atched two half-breed Indians loading a small 
canoe with bundles of all kinds of stuff together with the mail. 
We Inquired of the postmEster where they were going, and he 
said to Fort Vermilion ^nd intermediate points. They did this in 
the absence of the steareer. They loaded this little boat until 
there was only a few inches of it above the water. With one Indian 
In the back and the other a little back of the front, they pushed 
off, and began to t'ull f-'r the middle of the river to strike the 
main current. In a few m.inutes more they were turning a bend two- 
miles below. 

We board the ferryboat. W^e are again put through a grillini? 
by the officials about the same as at Lesser Slave lake. A complete 
clescription of ourselves and our outfit?. The Peace river takes 
It's name from a treaty having been once concluded between the 
British government and the Indians on thia river. After that the 
Indians ramed it the Teace river. At this point it Is about a half 
mile wide at low tide, very deep, and so swift that it stands a 
'erryboat on edg?. The .vater is a steel gray. From where 
'^ '"ome? ont of the 'Rorl.-v ^Tnurtains to its ju".'"t;on with the Great 
Slave river. It has some thre hundred miles of Islands. There is no 
: i.-ririe on the south side .'f it to spea!-: of, only a fp v small patches, 
and there Is no valley to speak of on the south side. The timber 
grows right down to the water. There is a fair size steamboat 
(the Pe£«e River) which plies this river, as described elsewhere. 
•'> " ter rj'.vj^ation ck;-pp ar.d the winter set*^ in ?'ti?an'Vi ats or wagons 
FT!? uped no more until spring opens, that is anyvvhere north of 
Edmonton. Only sleighs are used. A big p-.lr of horses or oxeo 
wl.l pi;H en a sleigh on the ice five thousand pounds. If you are 
J- ing ii to that cou'trv in winter, you travel rhi? tr.ni! to .\thabaska 
LnndiiTg, then you take right up that river on the ico to the mouth 
-•f Larger Slave rivrr u;) that river on the ice to t-'.o head of It 
-■-.SB out onto Lesspr "Rlare lake, still ov the : p and f'lllow up that 
^■.■-e one hundred and twenty miles, all the tiine on the ice. You 
V. i'l f.rd rnr.d rrjnclies at interva's of nfta&a to twenty miles fron) 




COOK'S PARTY ON TRAIL. NOTE TALL TREES, 77 FEET TO 

FIRST LIMB. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 21 



Edmonton to Peace river. These ranches are kept by the Indians, 
and French Canadians. In many places these ranches are only 
occupied in winter, and then for the sole purpose of catching the 
travel. 

From May until August 1st the Indians leave these ranches, 
go back off the trail, fish and hunt and lay in a supply of moose 
meat and fish for the winter. Then about August 1st they come 
back to put up hay for travel in winter. They have a bunk house, 
wood and water, cook stove for your use, log stables to put your 
stock in, and sell you hay. If you have two oxen or two horses, 
the total charges for one night is fifty cents. More stock in pro- 
portion. Most farmers and ranchers get their year's supplies into 
the Peace country during the winter in this way. 

The trading posts throughout this Northwest territory look more 
to the transient travel, prospectors, trappers rnd hunters for their 
winter trade. If you were going into that country to trap through 
the winter, and did not care to bother about taking your own sup- 
■^lies you could g • eitber to the Hudsons Bay Co. or Revillion Bros.' 
in any big town in Canads, deposit money with them, take a letter 
of credit from them. This is good for supplies any place where you 
find their trading posts which are scattered all over the northern 
part of Canada clear rp to the Arctic ocean. 

While it is generally considered safe to travel anywhere on the 
lakes, or rivers en the ice, yet there is never a winter but what 
we hear of one to three outfits going under the ice that are never 
heard of again. We get used to it, as regards danger. The people 
"eel about it as they do about riding on a railroad. While you 
'now there is danger, you go right on. If you hear of some out- 
fit going under, it makes you more careful for a while. The worst 
danger is getting lost on the big lakes. If it is storming we can't 
tell where we are sometimes, when the snow blows and covers 
up the tracks. 

Let us now go back to our outfit on the Peace river ferryboat. 
'"he ferryboat strikes sand bar about fifty steps before reaching 
the water's edge. We maneuver our wagons on +lie boat to try 
to get a little closer to land. Now the ferry nian tells us he can get 
us no closer. We investigate, and find three-foot drop from the 
floor of the boat to river bottom. The ferrvTT-an drops the boat's 
F.'^ron. we make ready. Mac and I are en eftber side of the team, 
Miss Cook mounted on the covr. we make a "dash. The river bottom 
is firm, we make it r.l- right. 

Once we are all rcrcss, we resume our journey, pull the first 
bench of the river bluff, and come out on to a narrow valley. 
A^ few mi'es up the valley widens to half mile or more. This ex- 
tends up the river some twenty-five miles. This valley is all oc- 
c^'T^ied, mostly by Indians, under the a'lrtm-^nt p'^.n. About six 
T^'i^es up we come to a Catholic Church Mis'^i'-n. They have good 
'Miildings, and ether iniprovements, abo;!t fif'y acres in cultivation, 
"beRt, oEts and barey. a large potato n^.tcb. also n nice garden 
■"^ntrJning many verities of vegetables. The ladies noticed in the 
bouse windows some geraniums. They also have br^re a sawmill 
and flourinrr mill. People for many miles bring their wheat here 



22 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



to have it ground. About six miles more, and we find an English 
Church Mission. They also have some farm, and garden, a few 
stoclt. Everything seems to have plenty to eat. Here a man by 
the name of Mr. Brick has a seventy-acre wheat field. It looks 
fine. Here we leave this valley and climb the bluff which is about 
a mile long. We are three hours climbing this bluff. On top we 
come to a fine prairie country. Go into camp on a little spring 
branch, fine fed. 

This prairie is about twer,ty-five miles r.orth and south; 300 east 
and west, paralleling the river. It is dotted all over with small patches 
of timber. Much of this timber is suitable for house logs. Then 
there are springs and spring creeks, and Inkes. This is the 
finest stock country in Canada, including Grand prairie, and Pouce 
Coupe prairie. The snow does not lay on the rroand all winter 
on account of the chinook winds coming through the Pine pass in 
the Rockies, to the southwest. From the foot of the Rockies down 
the river to Fort Vermilion it does not get as cold as it does in 
Minnesota in the States. Some stock run out here all winter and 
are not fed anything. They winter all right. The closer we get 
to the Rocky mountains the warmer it is in winter. There is a 
fine coat of grass on this prairie. They could cut hay most any 
place. The soil in most places is a black sandy loam. In some 
places it is a little en the order of a black waxy. I have seen 
most all of this prairie, find I found two white families, and one 
half-breed Indian family. This old Indian told me that these were 
all the people there were on this prairie. Now if you say that this 
prairie is no good or it would have been taken, then I say, you are 
wrong. Because I know. Why do I know? In the first place it is 
no colder here than at Calgary, Canada, because the chinook winds 
from the Pacific strike it as they do at Calgary. Then I will say. 
what did people think cf North Dakota up to 1SS5? I was there 
that year; they thought it was too cold and no good. In 1885 I 
drove a herd cf cattle from Texas to the Canadian border, and I 
passed over country where there vas a house about every twenty to 
thirty miles, and these were not fnrmers but stockmen. The farmers 
ither did not know of this country, or he did not want it. What is it 
like today? You could hardly get a claim of one hundred and sixty 
acres there now. I want to say to you that in ten years from now 
you will see a fan"'i y on every quarter section of this Peace River 
pra'rie. It is the last West in North America. 

After we had got our camp comfortably arr'ngei we tuok a stroll 
along the edge of thi? prairie, shot a deer, and several prairie chick- 
ens, eplenishing our supply cf fre-h meat. We remained in this 
camp the next dav, as the girls s.-id, to get our eyes a little accus- 
tomed to the bright light ?. fter having been so long in the dark, dis- 
mal swamps. Even our cattle seamed to enjov it. Now, if we had 
made this trip in a Pullman car, the distance wnu'd not have seemed 
so far. For an illustration cf reckoning distances in this country T 
will refer you to Uncie Sambo's method. I asked him how far it was 
to Timbuctoo, and he said, "Well, boss, dat depends all togedder on 
how you goes. If you goes in ox wagon, it is fie hundred miles; if 
you goes in a buggy, it is two hundred miles; if you goes on de 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 23 



cars, it Is twenty-five miles; If you goes by telegram, goodness knows, 
boss, you Is dare now." 

We now resume ou jrourney. This time we have more to interest 
us. Here stretching out before our eyes is a lovely prairie that we 
had long looked for. We now make Cole Springs creek, a bright, 
clear, running stream. Here we find two white families; one was a 
widow lady with one small boy. She had a claim, a bunch of milk 
cows, and was making butter to sell to travelers. When she had a 
chance she sent it to the Lauding. She fed no hay or grain in sum- 
mer, and only hay in winter. She wore good clothes and refused 
fresh meat from us. That was evidence that she was not hungry. 
She also had a nice-looking patch of wheat which sufficed for her 
bread. The other family was engaged in farming and stock raising. 
They tried hard to locate us near them, but we had written on our 
wagons, "To the end of the trail or bust." So as they told us that 
the trail ended farther on we could not stop. They had a very good 
crop of 'wheat, oats ^^'^ barley. 

We pass on to Little Burnt river, another beautiful little clear- 
sjadd'BJ? UBipuj smog puB ^iiraBj "ano pug a.ss. a.ian 'jaAjj aajBAV 
The man is half French and Indian. He told us he had resided iu 
that section of country for fifty years, and that many stock wintered 
on the range. The stock Is wild horses mostly. He told us of many 
creeks and streams through that country. There is considerable tim- 
ber along this little river and fine house logs. The grass is fine 
everywhere, and very few stock In. sight to get it. Here the trail 
forks, ohe keeping on west on the, north side of the Peace to Fort 
St. John, the other leans back towards the river and crosses back to 
the south side at Dunvegan. 

We are now some fifteen miles to the north of the river. We 
move on to another creek that has no name, go into camp for night 
and half day. We see baffalo heads scattered over the prairies. We 
shoot some geese and more prairie chickens. We have seen several 
bear, but have not yet killed any. I will give Mac's reason only for 
not having done so, and that is that he has not lost any bear. This 
is a beautiful country, and it is just what we have been looking for; 
only we are not quite ready to stop, so we pass on to Dunvegan, 
sixty-five miles above Peace River Landing. The bluff is the same 
as at the landing. A few miles before we get to the river we come 
to the bush again. Then we come to the river. Here we find about 
the same thing as at the Landing— a small village and some Indians. 
Our idea for crossing back here was to visit Spirit River, Grand 
Prairie, and Pouce *"' ir o prairies. These jirr'ries nr>' a'^out all you 
V ill hear spoken of in Edmonton, when speaking of the Peace River 
country. No one seems to want the north side of the river yet, as 
it is believed that a railroad will soon strike Grand Prairie, and they 
believe that it will be some time before a railroad will reach the 
north side of the Peace; hence the Grand Prairie boom. 

RECROSSING THE PEACE AT DUNVEGAN. 

We now recross the Peace and head for Grand Prairie and Pouce 

'^r>iip<' prairies. Ther*? !« a ferryboat her^^. A r^p? t'" river we find 
"'■e bl'iff the same a? below. After we c'imb the mile-high bluff, we 
50 eight miles and come to Spirit River praiire. This is also a very 
pretty country, half prairie and half bush. The river valley here is 




COOK'S PARTY RECROSSING THE PEACE AT DUNVEGAN. 



24 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



almost all takeo np. The river itself is not much, as the water Ib 
standing In holes, not rvinning. Leaving this prairie, we go into the 
regulation bush country again. Next we come to Big Burnt river. 
Here it rains on us; we camp over night. This is a beautiful llttl© 
river running through a dense forest. Let me say here, aa I have 
neglected to mention the rainfall. It has rained on us all along; 
enough to have made a good crop. There is always more rainfall 
In the bush country than on the prairie. We drift on, cross several 
nice little creeks, cross a hlght divide. From the top of this divide 
we get our first glimpse of Grand Prairie. It is some ten miles dis- 
tant. We pass on through the thickest underbrush that we have 
yet seen. 

Now we come to the prairie. Here, at the edge of the prairie, 
we camp on a little clear water creek. The grass and pea vine here 
is a foot high. Here the trail forks. One fork crosses the prairie to 
Grand Prairie City, about 25 miles. The other keeps around the 
north side to Saskatoon lake. At Grand Prairie City where we ex- 
pected to see quite a town, according to all reports that we had heard,. 
we find only an un?urveyod plat where the town is to be, if It ever is. 
Not a cabin, not a furrow plowed, not a stob driven. On the sight of 
the Grand Prairie City near here we find an old gentleman and his 
wife. They keep a road ranch and a blacksmith shop. He tells us- 
there is some scattering settlement through that section of the coun- 
try. We see some. We understand that much of the land has already 
been filed on. We pass on to the west, across the prairie, come to 
a settlement that is called Flying Shot. Here is a family, a small 
grocery store, a few Indians, and some other settlements. A short 
stop, and we hit the trail again. We now come to Saskatoon Lake. 
Here we find Hudsm Bay and RevilMon Brop.' trading posts, post- 
office and police quarterR. We camp here. Good feed. In this 
vicinity if the largest settlement on Grand Prairie. 

Grand Prairie is about fifty by thirty miles. There is considerable 
timber E'"Tt?'^red ovr-r 't. Thf^ro are marjy Ilip? also on this prairie, 
but they have no inflow or outflow, so they do not have any fish. 
The water is stagnant and bad, and they are of little value to the 
country. Many ducks lay and hatch around these lakes. Bear Lake,, 
the largest, is about two by eight miles. It alone has an inflow and 
outflow; it has fish. I do not like the land so well as that of Peace' 
Hiver, yot there is good land here. It is more rolling and has more 
Rtone. I visited a stock ranch on this prairie. They carried about 
thsee hundred head of cattle and some horses. They had no sheds. 
They put up considerable hay. I saw thnir winter feed ground. It 
^as in the willow bru^h in the creek bottom. They explained that 
they hauled their hay en sleighs, and threw It on the ground, and 
the cattle picked it "p. These cattle wintered well, they sr<id. They 
said they branded forty per cent calves. There is a bunch of wild 
^rrses on thi? prairie that have been here ff>r r.any years. The In- 
dians catch colts every spring, take them horoe, and raise them. 
They say they can't Catch the grown horses. That would sound as if 
stock can and do range outside the year aro :nd. There are a few 
nice farms here, mostly wheat, oats and barley. Most of it looks 
fiiir-y irt^nd. I saw cne patch of oats here they told me would make 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST A3 IT 13 TODAY< 25 



75 bushels per acre. It would hardly be fair to accuse these people 
of farming here yet, until they have had a little more time to s<^t 
In shape. I asked one old Indian If they had any society here. He 
said, "Not much; there is a few of them bushes over by Bear Lake." 
Judging from the signs I saw there, the old Indian must havo been 
right. I saw one soul-saving institution there, but no college walls. 
I saw one man breaking prairie there. He had a fair-sized pair of 
horses, a fourteen-lnch plow, and was doing good w^ork. I saw one 
man breaking land with one pair of large oxen, fourteen-lnch plow. 
He said he broke one acre per day, and received five dollars per acre, 
customary price. This man hooked up at seven, plowed until eleven 
thirty, turned his oxen loose near a lake, fed them nothing, hooked 
up again at four p. m., plowed till eight, turned his cattle loose again 
near the lake, still no feed, only the wild grass. The same thing next 
day, and so forth. This was the fattest pair of cattle that I ever 
saw being worked. I saw others plowing on this prairie. The soil 
here is a black sandy loam; it Is some lighter than that on the north 
side of the river. It is my opinion that this prairie will In a few 
years be settled up. Native raised milch oows here, medium milkers, 
sell for fifty dollars. Big oxen, $200 to $22 5; good work horses, 
$350 to $400 per pair. Provisions: Flour, $14 to $16 per hundred; 
bacon, 35c to 65c; coffee, 5c; sugar, S5c; lari, 3Be; tea, 75c. Every- 
thing else in prop- rtion. Hens, $1 on roost I have not yet seen 
one Indian plowing. I a?ked one old breed why this was, and he 
explained: "It is too hot in the summer tim©." I then asked how 
about the winter, whereupon he shrugged bis shoulders, and said. 
"Heap cold." 

The Grand Tr ;nk Pacific and the Canadian Northern are now 
racing across the continent from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert on the 
Pacific coast, by way of Edmonton, and through the Yellow Head 
pass, paralleling each other. They have a gigantic task on their 
bands on account of the bad condition of much of the country they 
have to pass over. Judging from what I saw of this work, it will be 
two years before these roads are completed. In my opinion they will 
not start another big job until they get thees lines in good shape. 
Then when any railroad does reach Grand Prairie, It will no doubt 
extend a branch on to the top of the bluff over the Peace. That 
would reach all of this Peace River country, as freijlit would be car- 
ried up and down the river in boats. Then by makiug one portage on 
the Peace below Fort eVrmilion, freight would be carried to the 
Arctic In steamers. 

Those who are not familiar with the settlement of a new country 
might ask: "Wher will you get a market for your produce during 
the absence of a railroad?" In the settlement of our West I found it 
like this. There was such a constant inflow of settlers each year, 
and those new arrivals had yv}r:thiMg to h\iy the first year, 
thus creating a home marl-.<^t for everv^^hl-.g thj^t was raised 
in the country; and as necessity is the mother of invention, people 
find many ways to get along without a railroad. Every one to their 
own notion, ae the old Indy said when she kissd the cow. 

It Is my belief that railroads and modern clvlilzation do not create 
happiness. The land shark, the silver-tongued polifcielan and office- 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



holder, the big business man, the cock-eyed society dude, and hobble 
skirt, the two dog power prescher, an array of middlemen and all- 
around grafters, the high court dignitaries to adminster justice; and 
if you would ask Uncle Sambo to give you his opinion of the average 
•ourt ruling handed tiovvn irom the courts oi uiodern civilization, it 
would read something like this: "Ought is a ought, and flggah is a 
figgah, and there is no jnoney left for this pore ole niggah." The 
above is the head end of modernized civilization. 

In the early settlements of our West I have seen disputes settled 
in one hour, or less, without one cent's cost that now take weeks, 
iuonths and years to settle, and in meny instances the cost eats up 
the property involved. In those days it would often be hundreds of 
miles to a court of justice, and well it v.as. In such cases we settled 
our disputes in this way. , When twn men claimed tnc !^ame animal 
each contending party wctild, name one man to represent him; then 
these two men would select the third man. The three men would 
proceed to hear each contending party, and if necessary make a close 
examination of the property in que.'tion. Then by majority vote they 
would sett'e the squabble st once and forever. Each contending 
rarty had absolute eonfidence in this court. They could do that 
because every man in our midst was honest. If any man chanced to 
have a streak of di.;honest blood in his veins, it had no power over 
him then because he was standing in the presence of honest men; 
and as honesty ranked higlier than position cr wealth, he MUST be 
an honest man, and he WAS an honest n^an. Then the two contend- 
ing parties, being hcne^t men themselvep, in every case would shake 
hands, and were the same fast friends as of yore. To do otherwise 
would be to reflect dl.-credit on the judges; and to reflect discredit 
f n a man in those dfiys was the height of inde'ency and was foreign 
lo any man's mind. The office of horse wran.^:ler and camp cook was 
considered the humb'est in our ranks, yet the ranch owner or man- 
ager, v>as ;ust as mindful of the respect due these mt r. as he was that 
due a prei-ident. Hence I v,ill use Horace Greeley's dictum, "Young 
man, go west." 

Ten yrrs from, nf^v; there will be seme fine farm? on this prairie. 
After a rest here we hook up and hit the trail for I'ouce Coupe prai- 
rie, sixty miles to the northwest. When fifteen milfs out, but still 
en this prairie, we come to a creek called Beaver Lodge. Nearby is 
another one called Red Wi'.Inw. Here in this cou'itry v.e see quite a 
sprinkle of settlers, all opening up farms. They .'^eeni to be pros- 
li'Tcua ?nd hapny. They have some stock, all of which are fat. Most 
all of them use oxen. They feed nothing through the summer and 
fall; they do all their wcrk on grass, put up hry pnd '^Ved. their work 
-tcck. They raise wheat, oats, barley and all kinds of vegetables; 
♦hey rcife many prfptoes. On the Wapiti river some twenty miles 
tr the south there i? a sraa'l snwm.ill wherp r.ll settlers in this sec- 
tion get the lumber th<?y use. However, all houses are built of logs 
and firi-hed off with thi- lumber. It is not a very good quality but 
-orves the purpose for the present. 

v.'e !"-ow null o- to 'ioiv'o C upt* ''rr'rie. "^^ ■? f^ '''\r> worst road 
we have yet encountered, but the word "can't" could not be found 
iU '..ia' ■ (i:a":nilr-.r> . uo we fir^.-illy arrived ou Pouce Coupe pralre. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT 13 TODAY. 



Here, close under the Canadian Rockies, we find a beautiful little 
prairie, about thirty by fifty miles, fairly well watered. Here grows 
the finest grass and pea vine we have yet soon. In some places I 
tied grass and pea vine together over a cow's back, it was so tall. 
This is the warmest spot in Canada in winter. On this prairie there 
were only one f;"-^': >r an ' n few Indians. We 7/e:'.t Into camp, and 
prospected around the country. 

We put provisions on one pony, leaving our girls In camp with 
another prospecting party. We go up the Pine river and come to a 
trappers' cabin. They tell us of the wondrously mild climate. They 
said that they had one cabin burned down in February, losing all 
their camp equipage, al their clothes, and bedding, except what they 
had on their backs at the time. They camped r-\t around an open 
campfire the balance of that winter. All thf> bedding they had was 
their furs. They piled them in a heap ani crawled under them. 
They said they did not suffer at all. I asked them about their ponies 
as they had several. They said the ponies ran out in the open all 
winter, and came out in the spring fat. No feed of any kind, not 
even hay. They told us that the Indians to the '.'est and north of 
that place would bring a bunch of ponies and turn them loose on that 
prairie In the fall, go away, and not see them any more until the 
next spring, ar-d t'vit *'■'.? •■> ■ios .iIwtvp <--m^:» .'Ut f>,:. Th? chii-^oo't 
winds come through the Fine pass, and this country Is right under 
that pass. The snow was kept melted so that It on'y lay on a few 
days after it fell, and at no time did it get der^p. One man said it 
melted almost as soon as it fell. They had a fine garden and were 
putting up a new cabin for winter. They tali that their fur catch 
averaged them cr.'^ thousand to fifteen hur.drsd each per year. 
There were three of then here. They explained tc us the boundary 
lines of their trapping grounds. We had a hard time to get away 
from them as w^ wim-s fr- h fr ii) "ivili/.'^Hor'. c ' h-^. ' the lT*^:jst rew.;. 
only two months old. These men had been in these wilds so long 
that that was recent nev? to thq n. They told us they had not seen 
a newspaper since March, and that it was a last Chri^itmas issue. I 
told them that we had seen a bunch of gog^'e-eyed dudes and some 
hobble skirts on the steamer Peace River as '^e crofsed the river. 
They had long faces and nsked ns many quo?tHr!5 pbout the settle- 
ment of the couTitrv to the south, and wondered If the grafter was 
really Invading their country. They said they would like to see the 
country settle with -tockmen, as that brought game, instead of driv- 
ing it out. We asked them about the route to Hudson Hope. They 
told us to get an eld half-breed Indian from the prnirie; that he 
would take us through, as there wns hardly anv trail, that we could 
find no trail atfer a few days' travel from th'^re. W'e returned to 
our camp with a big bearskin, ^nd all the meat one old pony could 
pack. "Wiis was the first one we had killed. We employed this old 
Indian to guide us and headed for Hudson Hone. 

The first place of interest was Moberly lake. This Is a beautiful 
lake nestled right at the foot of the towering Canadian Rockies. 
Here we made a short stop, shoot many ducks, and see some Indians 
who are amazed to see such an outfit aa ours in that part of the wilda. 
We get a fresh supply of moccasins, as v.e ara now wearing them 



28 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



instead of shoes. They rest our feet from the coarse, heavy shoes we 
have been wearing. 

GOING ABOARD A RAFT. 

We reach the Peace river opposite Hudson Hope. There is no 
ferry here, so we set to work to make a large raft of logs which our 
old guide shows us how to inake. We put all ou-r outfit on at one 
time; our guide tel's us it is safe. We are only a short distance 
below where this mighty river comes out of the canyon in the Rocky 
Mountains. There ere many, islands in this part of the river. We 
make a start and hang up on on^. Here we go ashore and gather 
berries, the finest we have yet seen. When v, e have gathered all we 
want, we begin to devise ways and means to get our raft clear. We 
finally make it. The river-. is so swift that it tosse? our raft around 
ike- a toy. Our raft is seventy feet long and twenty-five feet wide, 
made of very large logs and very heavy. The current is so swift 
that we have trouble to handle it. We hang on another island and 
after much difficulty got loose. We have by this time drifted several 
miles down the river. We see a sandbar al ead, and all hands set 
*o work with long poles and manage to run her on to this sandbar, 
but as our raft draws so much water it runs us aground some distance 
out in the river. 

Here Big Dutch took cne pony, jumped him overboard .and rode 
to shore to test the bottoiM. IT'.> f 'Und it firm, ^g after we had worked 
our raft as far on to this sandbar as we could get, we could see that 
;t was settling down in the sand. We fell to devising a way to get off 
of this raft and into the v/ater with cur wagons. By maneuvering 
our wagons and stock to one end as much as possible, that caused 
the front end of the raft to lift up a little. Thru we shifted our stuff 
to the front end which caused that end to sink deeper in the sand. 
After this maneuvering on board, we still had 3bout a two-foot drop 
from the top of the raf-t to the bed of the river. This is too much of 
a drop to be safe. We had noticed drift coming down. .This indi- 
cated_ a rire in the river, .which added to our discomfort. I suggested 
that we pry her off r.rd go en down the river, pr that was much easier 
traveling than pulling the moskeg. The girls sai-i, "You are not 
talking to us. Let u? off." I argued that t'ere were no rapids in 
the irver for about six hundred mi'es, and before v,e reached those 
v^•e could certainly find a bettor landing. We could wade ashore and 
gather feed for our stock. This motion being overru'ed. Big Dutch 
?;ia:!reste'i that, we hool: all t^ims to the r.aft. p' 1 pu:' it o'o'H'r to' the 
'anding. I pointed out the danger in such a move. Suppose we failed 
in that undertaking. The weight of the tearms leaving the raft would 
raise it up in the water and it might float nway. Then again, we 
could not get our stock back on board, which wouid be necessary in 
'"ler to hook them to the wagcns. Then again, night would catch us 
in the mean time, with a possible rise in the river which would float 
our raft away and thus separate us from cur teamp. That idea wag 
abandoned. We then got out three Icng-hf n'led shovel?, jumped 
^nto the Tvaetr, and began dipping up sand and throwing it in front 
'■■■i the raft. With the slowly sinking of the -rnft under its weight 
.-^ rrr>~ ■■ rd enough r-^nd piled up to lot our v.-- 'rn? down easy. We 
noticed that the sand was also drifting and pi'Jng up against the.' 
raft on t::e upper side, which assured us that we were firmlv an- 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY, 29 



chored. We now hock four teams to one wag'-^o. MIsa Cribb on 
the wagon, Miss Cook on her pet cow. SverythiHJj being ready. I 
give the word, "Forward, lads." and sp'ash we want Into the river. 
Being apt scholars, we bad by this time acq^irad a fair knowledge of 
the bullwhacker's vocebulary, whloh was all that saved us h^^re, as 
It was a harder pull than we had figured on. Bat we made dry land 
O. K. and stopped to blow our stock. 

We noticed that our raft had risen some, as though U would 
float away, but fortunately we had sunk some poles as deep in the 
sand as we could, and tied the raft to them. Had wo not done so, 
oar raft might have parted company with up, leaving two wagons 
and our Indian guide on board. We make anotber pull and reach 
the first bench of the river. Here it Is safe t« camp. We return 
"With all teams. We have Big Dutch's ponies in front, as they are 
quicker and make better leaders. Myself and Date's, being captain 
and mate, climbed to the hurricane deck of those ponies, as I sug- 
gested that under our weight we could guide them better and prevent 
thir floating away. We now steered for the -ihip, and after some per- 
suasion got all on board rgain. We made fpst to the second wagon. 
Everything in readinens once more, we plaB;;od into the river. By 
tills time our educated cows are on to their iob and we have no trou- 
ble landing the second wazon. This time when we stopped our stock 
to rest, we notlaed that a big drift log haa strMck oar raft and torn 
it loose from its nnchornge. Raft and log were floating away, our 
faithful Indian guide ^t^nding erect, placidly taking in the situation- 
After drifting some dit?ance, a limb of the !ng caught in the sand, 
stopping the whob^ buF'n-'fis on a sandbar. We took this wagon on 
to camp, then takln:T a'l the teams, we go down to the raft as near 
as we can; then on close examinaMon we fiod that the raft, not being 
30 heavy, has this time stooped where the wg-ter waj? not so deep. We 
take the teams near the raft. t;'rn them ar'^und in the water; we 
then tie the coupling pole so the wagon can't come uncoupled, roll 
the wagon near the end of the raft until the tongue extends out Into 
the water. This wagon not being so heavy, we Jump It off into the 
water and snake it to dry dirt, then stop to blow. This time we 
notice our guide hanging on to the back end of the wagon. We now 
have all our outfit off of the raft. It is now j:ettlEg dark, as it is 
eleven o'clock p. m. We make camp O. K. ar.d tarn everything wild 
loose, and to the tune of eleven Jingling bolls we be-^in the prepara- 
tion of dinner and supper in one. We have c-unted nine big bears 
on the banks and on the islands a.i we came drswn t»day, bat we did 
not shoot at any of them, as wp did not need any frash meat, and 
then we could not have got to tl;em anyway. It was two a. m. before 
w© laid down to rest. 

The next day was spent In gntMng back on the trail between Hud- 
son Hope and Fort St. .John. Here we go into camn. The next day 
we visited Hudson Hope. We find trading posts, police barracks, and 
a few Indians. The next day we head down the river to Fort St. John. 
This Is a bush country ngnjn, the same as usual, and about all that 
break the monotony are the towering masses of the Canadian Rock- 
ies In the background, we have now crossed the line of the Provlnco 
of Alberta on to the iirltish Coluuibla sido. C'..ail:;5 feo Fcrt St. John, wa 



30 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



find it near the river surrounded by liills one tliousand feet high. 
Here we talk with some white trappers and Indians, and find that it 
would be impossible to go any farther north or west with our outfits. 
So after bidding our Indian guide an affectionate farewell, we point 
our cows down the river. For about forty miles out we find bush 
and moskeg, then we come out on to what I have called the Peace 
River prairie. This is the west end of the prairie that we were on 
"'hen we turned in to recross the river at Dunvegan on our way up. 
We drift on down to a point opposite Dunvegan. Here we come to a 
nice clear water creek on the prairie with a streak of timber. Here 
we go into camp, and remain several days, during which time my 
supply of homesick powders has become completely exhausted, and 
a dissolution of our party is talked, as some wai t to return to the States, 
Fome want to go b,T" to Pouce Coup6, while I and my daughter want to 
pull on farther north. 

FINAL DISSALUTION OF OUR P:\RTY. 

At this time we were met by another party direct from Texas in 
the States. They went into camp, and we all of us held a general 
••^'ar c uncil. We py^^vT'Er'^d experiences anr' i leas of the country, 
the advantages and disadvantages, for and ag.iinst, the past and the 
present, the people included. Great stress was laid on the decisions 
arrived at in this medicine gathering. This was considered the turn- 
■ng point in our lives which not alone involved our own future des- 
tinies, but perhaps those of our children, a few of our relatives, and 
some of our friends who would sooner or Isler follow us up if we 
settled in this country. We will reckon ourselves as the Donner . 
party in o' r West, n inns the hostile Indians. 

After lengthy deliberatirns we decided on ^lur new plans, or per- 
haps I should say, brought to a close our original plans. His Royal 
-Majesty, the Honorable Right Reverend Sir Hollingsworth Beacons- 
field Crabb, his daughter. Miss Nellie Crabb, ?nd Big Dutch, or Sweet 
■^ViiMam a? he was better known to Mins Crabb, were to go to Pouce 
Coupe prririe to settle for life. Mac the Maniac, from Maine, was to 
return to Maine to vi.^^it the scenes of his childhood days and scatter 
Sowers rn the grpves of the dear ones that had di^d of a broken 
'eart. I moved that he place a clause in that resolve in the form 
that he reserve the right to return to Canada without notice to the 
rfRcials of either country in case his identity was discovered there. 
^"v move w.ns seconded, and the clause carried. Myself and daughter 
had chanced to meet two old friends in this new party. They were 
r^Tr. and Frs. Dan Farker. Mr. Parker was an rid cowboy chum of 
n--'ne. His lady was the daughter of another eld cowboy friend of 
mine, they having just arrived from Texas. They were newly mar- 
ried, and I asked if they were on their hcneymoen. l\Tr. Parker said, 
"We hpre jist passed that station, and now are on the money hunt." 
Now comes the final parting with our old friends. In shaking 
hf.nds with Mr. Crnbb, Miss Crabb, and Big Dutch, I wished them 
good luck, and that they might have the courage and strength to 
?ncceer'. "Good-by, my dear friend Mac. I hepe that your courage 
•r i .""-Vv-ardness r'lr.y continue with you, rnd that :'-ou may have 
' -^ e.nll to return to Mpine." With a thank ynu and dry grin we 
-^-^rted. A day or so after the departure of Miss Crabb, I fancied 
t- at n:y daughter was drooping a little. I suggested that she might 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST A3 IT IS TOIMLY. SI 



scrape up a few more homesrck powders. She turned the tables on 
me by saying, "Father, I am very sorry, but If you think you really 
need them I will go through the medicine chest." 

It is now three months sine ewe organiaed oar little traveling 
party In Edmonton, While we had no doubt at timea felt a little 
vexed at each other on account of some fancied slight of duty by 
some member of our party, yet to sum It all up, taking everything 
into consideration, we had had pleasures as well as hardships. We had 
formed warm ties of friendship for ech other. This sudden breaking 
up of our party no doubt caused us all more or lees regret. The 
newly arrived party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Rlghtower, two sons 
and a daughter, and Mr. and Mrs. Parker. Mr. Hightower wanted 
to stay in this country until spring, and they had only a light travel- 
ing outfit. As I had Just the outfit they wanted, I sold out to them 
lock, stock and barrel, reserving only my daughter's pet cow. How- 
ever before we left this camp, I prevailed on my daughter to let her 
go. I received for her |110. Now the four cows and one bull cost 
me in Edmonton $240; I sold them for $410. I paid $2.55 per huu- 
dred pounds for flour in Edmonton, and sold it for $12 par hundred, 
and everything esle that we had in proportion. At the final sale and 
delivery we reserved only one tent, our steel traps, clothing and bed- 
ding. Mr. Parker had a pair of ponies and a buckboard, a tent and 
bedding, and a small cooking outfit. 

Mr. Hightower now hooked up his teams, and headed for Grand 
Prairie, leaving my daughter and myself aad Mr. and Mrs. Parker in 
oamp with two ponies and a buckboard, two tents and camp equi" 
page, with our plans not yet fully matured. We now set to making 
medicine, and we must make our medicine pretty strong, as our 
party was small; and we proposed to steer from here, straight away 
Into a country that we could get no information of at all from the 
white settlers, and very little from the Indians, only enough to get 
us started. But this Is what we like about it. We all want to get 
beyond the limtis of any settlement; as my friend said, "We have 
never yet worn second-hand goods, and we don't wnat to commence 
It now. We must have first choice when we settle. We are descend- 
ants of Daniel Boonelsm, and we feel as he did when he went West. 
He thought he would not be crowded for a lon^ time; however, he 
had not been long in his new far-away abode when he sent word out 
of his fastness to his friends. "Do you know," said he, "a man has 
had the lmpu<lenc:> to settle within fortv niiless of me!" We want 
a country where there Is grass, water, fish, and game. We don't 
want any sign of a wagon road going Into our prairie~only a pack 
trail. Then we ho--'? to never n£?.\'?i set our e-es -in a silk Ixat man, 
a cock-eyed society dude, or a hobble skirt wearer; where we can do 
away with a double lock on the door, reinforced with a prop. In- 
stead we will havB i Ip.t-h with the i^tring h:^t'".v sc o-: the outside. 

After I have visited tenement houses in New York where four 
families lived In one sixteen-foot square room, one in each comer, 
with one small cook stove In the center; the papers and scrap boards 
picked up from the gutter sufficed for fuel to do the cooking for all, 
and then the stove was not in nse half the time. The direct cause of 
all this suffering of humanity Is the silk hat, the cock-eyed dude, and 



32 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



the hobble skirt parasites. The more dense the population, the more 
suffering of humanity. Now is there any wonder that we take this 
step? 

Our plans now settled, I left my daughter with Mr. and Mrs. 
Parker. I got in his buckboard and went back to Fort St. John and 
purchased six ponies from the Indians, four for myself and two for 
Mr. Parker. I sold the buckboard and harness for fifty dollars to an 
Indian chief, bought tour saddles and four pack saddles. Paid 
twenty-five to fifty dollars for the ponies, five dollars for pack sad- 
dles, and twenty to thirty for the riding saddles. 1 then returned 
to camp. We gave the iadies first choice of poniea. We put riding 
saddles on four and pack saddles on four. I put my bedding and the 
canvas boat on one pony, my daughter's bedding, her tent, and the 
i^rub sack on one. My daughter complained that her pony had the 
heaviest load. I told her to heft the grub sack. She did and said 
no more. 

Our eight ponies were soon saddled and packed. They were 
Ftanding in the warm sunshine, apparently dozing and perhaps dream- 
ing of their former masters, the Red Men. W'e kicked over the few 
remaining articles ia camp, such as the late papers, telling of the 
Spanish-American v.&r, the massacre of General Custer, etc., sacKs, 
wearing apparel that had served us through the moskegs, and other 
wearing apparel that was at all suggestive of civilization, and more 
particularly to discover If we were leaving anything that would reveal 
our Identity or afford any clew to our trail. Among this cast-off 
wearing apparel I discovered Mr. Parker's late wedding suit. I called 
tis attention to this. He said, "Let her ride. Judging from my late 
experiences, I shall never want another wedding suit." 

I gave the first command, "Mount." Mrs. Parker walked to her 
pack pony, and jerked the grass out of the hell en the pony's neck 
snd gave It a quick rattle. The suddenness of this awoke the half- 
sleeping ponies and frightened them so that they all ran. Fortun- 
ately I had got hold of my pony. I mounted and gave chase, I soon 
got in front of the stampeded ponies. Taking off my large Texas 
sombrero, I began whipi.ing them in the face. I soon had them cir- 
cled townrd camp, and after a lot rf coa.irig and rMai.euvering, we 
managed to get hold of all of them. Mrs. Parker explained the 
meaning of her action by saving that she Intended to ring the bell 
as the Liberty Beli. I once inore gave the crmmand, "Mount." I 
mounted on my pony, "RBin-in-the-Face," this being the nam© of the 
Indian chief from whom I bought him. My daughter had named her 
pony "Creole Sue." Mr. Parker had named his "3iily the Kid," this 
'"<ing the name of the leader of a band of outl.^ws in New Mexico, 
The pony must have understood that he was named cfter the leader 
of outlcwp, as he wae the leader in the recent stampede, and he did 
not want his master to be disappointed In him; hence bis taking the 
>.'i-3. ?.!r?. i^arker liore-l her P"ny "Red Sqiia-v.' T: ;^ ftber ponies 
"ve cal'ed our pack ponies. Now after our past experiences, and as 
we had won out so fsr, there was no fear b;it that we would further 
?rcceed, as we were now at home — on the hurricane dsek of a pony. 

We make the start — then we ha!t, look at the surrounding coun- 
try ;-.nd at the sun. I put a flng-^r In my m.uth, dampen It and hold 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 33 



it up to find out where the wind Is from, as the eold side of the finger 
will always indicate the direction of the wind. I then took out my 
compass and found that we were headed dne west. Headed west 
when we should hsve headed north was due to natural Instinct with 
me — "Go West." We now faced about due north. We trave'o-i that 
day until late before we stopped for camp, as we had had fairly 
good going. Mind yon, we had started out aeroBs the prairie with- 
out p.ny sign of a trail. 

The second day out we e?.em Into an Indian pack trail. There 
were no signs of its h?ving been traveled for p. Ion?; tlmo; yet we 
followed it, as it seemed to be headed for some objective point. Late 
in the afternoon, and after having left the prairio. traveling through 
the bush for some time, v/e came to a smaH prairie with a nieo little 
creek. Here we found an old Indian camping ground and m.ade camp 
there. The feed was very fine. The mosquitoes were bad, too, but 
we had covers for our horses. We also mnde pmndges at night for 
them. The horse were not strangers to thia kind of life, as they 
seemed perfectly contented. All that was new to them was their 
covers to keep the mosquitoes off, but they showed thoir appreciation 
for thm Insomuch n« the'^ did not get frightened at them. We no- 
ticed them looking rt each other in an effort to recognize one another. 
About sunset we saw o"r ponies, all looking down the stream as 
though they saw something. True to our raising, we all grabbed 
our guns, as in onr We?!t this sign would many times mean the ap- 
proach of hostile Indiana. I beckoned for si-enoe, and keeping to 
some brush along t'l^ crpf^V: bank, T moved carefullv along. Presently 
I saw a band of mo'^pe emerge fr m the bush, evidently to snend the 
night on this little ^-r^-ir^e They wre nlpning the pea vine and coming 
toward me. I Vent piovirr' towari them. Thi^v had not yet nv.tlced our 
ponies, as In that wild rr>'iritry thev were not accustomed to meeting 
an enemy; hence they wro not looking f r ore. When I got within 
range I sat flat on the gr- 'T^fi. About this time they al! saw our horses 
and stopped to look. I rl-gled out a big bull r3-!d flroi. He made a 
lunge forward and fell. The others turned and went Into the bush. 
We saw no morf of them. T walko' out Into the clean'^fi: and motioned 
to camp for all to eome. They all came ru^'^ing. I tr^ld the ladles to 
remain here urtll Dan, rrv friend, ^nd I could mke sure he was dead 
before thev got too riose to him. He was voyv d^.-^d. ap one shot from 
my old reliable f'rtyfive-seventy was generally sufTicIent. We took the 
hide off of one hind leg and hip. took that quarter to camp, and feasted. 

Th'> ''ovt .1t- T'.-n oi'T-.^'r,^ n.ro'.i'i n.rd fou-^-' y tra.ll l^ii'^ing out of 
the prairie, straight north through the bush. We now get out of camp 
so late that we do^t' foolr nt noon only stop t • let our ponies graze. 
We eat a cold lunoh ?>nd drift on. The country i'? ^ihout the regulation 
bush with small springs, creeks nn^' moskegs. We follow this Indian 
trail, although It is in many nlncf^s hard to tra •«> wh^re It leaves an 
opening In the timber or a little rrairle. It is n.-t hard to find in the 
bush, as to get off of It we could not go at all, on account of so much 
raoskeg and timber fnll. It has becon-:e evident to us now that this trail 
leads for a long way. a.<3 it seems to k<^gp about the ?ame direction. Theu 
we have not seen so mu'^h as a bush c'ut In th" v^.y of improvements. 
and one old Indian had told us of a fine prairie far to the north with 



34 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



only a pack trail leading to it. However, this trail was always wide 
enough to admit the passage of a wagou; yet it showed no signs of ever 
having a wagon over it. Then when the old Indian was describing this 
trail and country to us he indicated by Indian signs that it had been 
aiany winters since any une had gone so iar into that country. We have 
studied this trail long and thoughtfully, and we have now concluded 
that it leads to something g sod. We keep oa going. The next day out 
we find another camp grou;id, but not so plain i\:- the first. This would 
indicate that another trail, and probably a shoner one, had somewhere 
!: ranched off to some winter hunting camp, but we failed to notice it. 
The second night is as the first, only we see no moose. 

The next day in the afternoon we come out into a higher country. 
The underbrush is dense, but the trees are not so lar^e and thick, and 
there is very little moskeg. We seem to be on a high divide, as though 
-ve were between two large water courses. We now come to a lovely 
!ittl prairie one mile wide and some four miles long. Here is a spring 
branch and a camp ground. We have noticed for some distance back 
.nore moose sign than usual. We noticed a bunch of stock on this 
I rairle. I looked at every member of our party. They looked more or 
.ess disappointed, as if these were cattle it would mean that we were 
not yet out of the settlements. We take out our field glasses and find 
that it is a bunch of moose. This is fine, as our fresh meat is getting 
stale. We go into camp, hobble our horses, tie one pony up so that in 
:;ase the moose should run that way and stampede the ponies we would 
not be afoot. We now take three rifles, and the ladies go with us. We 
:.eep in the cover of souic small bunches of brush dodging from one to 
another. Finally after we are all about playel out and it is getting 
late, we got close enough to shoot. The moose have now winded us, 
and some of them come toward us. The ladies get a little nervous. We 
tell them to keep down in the small brush. The moose kept coming 
until they had got quite close. I handed my r fle to Mrs. Parker and 
told the two ladies to both shoot at the moose closest to us. - If they 
failed to get him, Dan was to stop him. The two rifles cracked at the 
same time. The moose staggered and ran, then he circled and came 
for us. I grabbed my sixshooter. Just then the mo se fell. The ladies 
had reloaded and I told thorn to shoot him again. Crack, crack, went 
two rifles. The mo se jumped up, circled and came for us. I motioned 
Dan not to shoot yet, but this was getting too closa quarters for the 
'.Tlies and they ran some dlstan^'e back. The moose again fell, this time 
Oily a few steps from us. He then turned on hi? si'e. gave a few kicks, 
and was dead. Dan and I prepared to sit up with the la lies that night, 
y'efore we bro]-:e camn the ne::t day we lo k over this rra'rie for signs 
of settlements. We find some old cabins and judge them to be Indian 
trappers' cabins, only used in v/intor. We locate our trail still leading 
• ovth. This bigh country continues until In the afternoon, then it seems 
to get lower, the timber getting some larger. At evening we find a small 
Ojoning and camp. We find a beautiful little la e in this opening with 
ts of moose sign. That night there was not a sound to break the 
-tillness except the lone howl of a wolf. 

The riG^t day we hit the trail about ns usual, .\bout t!ie same coun- 
*7".-. ov.iv the moskeg is coming back. At noon we come t, a small river. 
Ker? 've fi'^d a tri:-.;»'r's cabin and fresher sig;:S Vas.^ common. The 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 35 



trail leading out from here is fresher than common. One of our pack 
ponies now wants to take the lead. We put him back, but he comas up 
again, and gets in the lead. This Is plain to Dan and me« We know 
that this pony knows of a ranch ahead, and is anxious to get to It. We 
leave this river and climb a divide, almost like the day before. At noon 
we come to a small prairie and a small lake. We now see what we are 
sure is cattle sign. We camp here over night and make a thorough 
investigation of the country around and find an old cabin almost rotted 
down. We find also some horse sign. Upon close inspection the horse 
had a rider, as he was not gra/.ing at any place where we foand his 
tracks. While we were out looking around, we spied a large einnamoa 
bear. Dan and I slipped up and shot at him, and unon close inspection 
we found that either shot would have been sufficiert tii have killed him. 
We took the in'Ues ou*^ t see liim. and th.?' told -t th?.t ?.o long as it 
showed that either shot would have killed him, it showed we were not 
scared. Now we had more meat. We had seen ducks on all the lakes 
we had passed. We had seen bear tracks 'before on tUls trip, but no 
bear. We now start supper early. We have grown tir.'d of fried meat, 
and we put a bear rib on a green stick before the fire, and roast it. 
We then show the ladies a new way to cook broad. We open the flour 
sack, make the dough in the sack, roll it In long rolls the size of a 
man's thumb, wind this cl sely around a green stick, hold it to the fire 
and keep turning it until it is done. That night we take a nice roast, 
roll it in a piece of the bear's hide, hollow out a hole in the campfire, 
put it in that and cover it up with ashes. We then build a good fire on 
it, replenish it at bed time, and the next morning we have the loveliest 
roast, nice and brown. 

We hit the trail again. At noon we made a short stop, finished up 
this cold roast and went ngain. We are now traveling down grade on 
a gently rolling ridge. Y'e now suddenly come to an opening in the 
timber. We are on high ground. We see some few miles off, and on 
considerably lower ground, just what we have been looking for — a prai- 
rie which looks to he five or six miles wide, and perhaps fifteen miles 
long. We take out our glasses, see some small Inkes and a few cattle 
grazing. Judging from the low ground between the two ranges of hills, 
there might be a river in the valley. We spur up a little, and about 
six p. m. we arrive at the foot of this high ridge. We come suddenly 
upon a most beautiful little river— -^lear. sparVlirg w.ater, about twenty 
steps wide, and on» foot deep, sand and gravel bottom. We see fish in 
the river. We have no difficulty in crossing. We see cow sign. We 
ride up the bank, and are on the most beautiful nralrle that we have 
yet seen in Canada. It is almost level with a gentle slope to the river. 
It is dotted over with a few small knolls. These wrrs covered over with 
small trees which a 1-':ed to the benuty of the prairie. It now shows to 
be surrounded by high hills to the south and n. rth. We can see the 
country far to the we-t through th? opening th^^ river makes, while 
below the river seems to make a ^.hort turn, cutting off the view. We 
go into camp here on the bank of the river, and hobble our ponies. The 
pony that wanted to get in the lead so much grazes a little while, then 
raises his head, looks down the river, and across the prairie, while the 
other ponies pay no attenti >n. only to delicious gro.ss and pea vine. This 
pony's actions convince us that he has In the past spent some happy 



36 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



days on this prairie. We afterwards learned that this pony had been 
kept on this prairie. We are now fish hungry, so we get out some fishing 
tackle and soon land some fine mountain trout, as fine as we have ever 
seen in any country. During the night we hear a cow bawl. We are 
about half and half — pleased and displeased. We would like to see some 
one to talk with about the country, then we want this prairie all to 
ourselves in case we don't find anything better. 

We now rise early, have breakfast, and are off. We follow down 
the river east keeping on the prairie. We go about three miles and 
find a bunch of cattle. They resemble very much the old-fashioned 
Texas long-horned that we were raised on, says Dan. We go a little 
further and strike a plain beaten path leading back toward the river. 
We follow this a short distance and come to some cabins under the 
first bench of the river, and close by it was a lovely little garden in a 

ittle vallen that extends far down the river. We sit here on our ponies 
while our eyes feast on the surrounding beauties. In front of us run» 
this beautiful little river. Just across the river the hills set in, and 
gradually rising higher and higher until they reach a height of some 
seven hundred feet. In the background back of us the prairie covered 
all over with fine grass and pea vine, in many places so tall as to almost 
hide a calf. This prairie proves to be five miles wide and about fifteen 
miles long However, it is cut into in several places by a streak of tim- 
ber. To the back of us at the far edge of the prairie rises abruptly a 
range of mountains tw*^ thousand feet high. Just below us they bend 
to the left or northeast. These mountains are covered with a dense 
growth of timber and fine feed. To the west of us some seven miles 
the prairie stops and the hills set in. We can see far up this depres- 
sion made between the hills by the river. In the distance the hills 
seem to tower one above the other, as they dr p back, leaving the im- 
pression that it was not very far to the head of this river, that it might 
rise in those high hills. This proves correct, as this is a short tributary 
of the Hay river, and it is only fifteen miles pr per to the head of this 
river, seven miles to the west end of the prairie. To the east of us the 
river makes a bend, and shuts out our view. The hills on both sides 
seem to g^Mgher as they go east, or northeast. Under our feet the 
soil is a black sandy loam and very rich. A fair sir'.ed pair of oxen 
can break it easily. There are many springs in the bluffs to the north 
which form creeks that run into this little river after crossing this 
prairie, making it a perfect paradise for man and beast. Only one 
tiiir,g more to consider, and that we find by raising our eyes to the skies. 
We observe the deepest of deep blue skies, with the bright warm raj'S 
of a northern sun shining straight down on us. This completes the 
panorama. We look to the left, and see some old caVins. These are 
cow barns. Some hay stacks are also in sight. Just below this is a 
small patch of wheat, some four or five acres, and ab' ut two acres of 
potatoes. This completes the improvements in sight of us. We see a 
few chickens moving about the place. There are nn dogs to bark at us. 
We have scanned the s rairie with our glasses, a::! are quite sure that 
fV-^re p. re no more settlements to the west of us. and we want this ranch. 

'•-w phall we appr ach the owner? I am elected spokesman in that 
respect 

We now descend this little bant to the cabins, then we call but get 




COOK'S PARTY ARRIVING AT HIS RANCH. 
MEN'S ATTIRE. 



NOTE LADIES IN 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 37 



CO answer. I dismount, go to the door and knock. A gruff voice from 
within Bays "Come In." As from natural instinct, I adjusted my re- 
volver so that it would be handy. Opening the door with my left hand, 
T stepped inside. Here in one corner of the room on a bed composed 
of two poles stuck in the cracks of the cabin wall, and meeting on one 

tool for a bed post, poles laid across, hay put on them, then spread over 
+he hay to lay on was a lot of furs, also furs f-.r covering. Here lay 
an old man with long gray hair and long beard covering his face all 
3ver. He pointed to a stool, a block of wood having been sawed off a 
round log, with three hole? bored in it and sticr s driven in for legs. I 
feated myself on it I nrticed he was eyeing me all the time with won- 
der. He asked me where I was going, where from, what kind of an 

utfit I had, and many other que.stions faster than I c- uld answer them. 
When I told him there were ladies in my party he raised himself up on 
one elbow, and his wrinkled face beamed with smiles. His heretofore 
^ard-looking eyes now turned to a more mild hue, and fairly danced In 
kis head. Thinks I, "Who would have thought it of you!" Then he 
said, "It has been many years since I had a lady visitor at my ranch, 
and your gulde^who is he?" "My dear sir, I have to claim that honor 
'or myself." "And you have never been in this valley before?" "No, 
sir." "Then you are a pioneer! Let me shale vrtur hand." His hand 
was clammy. "Be seated, my friend. Now tell me rnore about your 
party, and where they are." I described our party and where they were. 
He said, "Then bring them in." I suggested that we were well equipped 
for a camping, and perhaps it might be as well f' r us to go into camp 
'learby and then visit with him. He agreed that we go into camp on 
this little river above the cabins, and we all visit this old man in his 
"abin. He receives u? very cordially. I notice that he has not re- 
•=rranged anything in the oabin since I was in. I infer by this that he 
is nrt able to get around much, and I ask him about his afflictions. He 
said that he could not explain exactly what his trouble was. He said, 
"I have thoFe spells shout twice a year, and I seem to get worse each 
time." He did most of the talking and asked many questions about the 
(^utFide world, as he said that he seldom ever went anywhere. He told 
us that he was a native of Canada, and that he had spent most of his 
'?fe trapping and hunting, that he built these cabins about sixteen 
years ago and had spent most of his life here since that time. I asked 
him how he managed to do so much work as it seemed to me- was nee- 
?<^?ary on this place, and he raid there was a half breed Indian family 
on the lower end of the prairie whom he had eirpliye' to help him at 
*'mes v.-f'.on he was able t> be out to superintend the work. After we 
had tailed for an h' ur or more, and as soon ar T -^otiid ret a word in 
"•'-'r'ewiP'^. T asked if tbf>re was anything our party /•on!"' ro for him that 
"'T.uld a^^sist him in his immediate wants, and he said that if the ladies 
would »"Ok him a chicken as only a lady can coo': them, it would help 
>im out powerfully. T asked what kind of cbirkTi I should catchV "A 
young rooster," he said. Dan took his thirty-thirty, and soon had a 
chicken. Mrs. Parker cooked It at our camp s-^d we took it to him. 
T-'e ate mort all of it at one meal. He told u? to help ourselves to any- 
*' ing i^n the place — "hlckens. pigs, garden stuffs, etc. V.'e thanked him 
■ ?r^mpled his garden stuffs, which wo foiir.d to -e mo?t evcellent. in 
the way •■ f ^abbnsro potatoes, onions, carrots, tomat' es, and sweet corn. 



38 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODA=Y. 



His large yellow chickens looked very tempting, bfH we had pFenty of 
fresb meat. "This was the flftaenth of August, 1910. 

We took It In turns visiting this old man. Thl3 old gentleman Ot- 
fered to share his quarters with us. He told us If we needed freeh meat 
to kill a ealf, that he had one kandred and thirty-eight head of fat 
cattle grazing on that prairie. He told us that we most not leave him 
until he can show us over the c-untry some. I told hira we wo-ald stop 
here a week or so. A c>)uple of days later we ho;)k up a team oi the old 
gent's horses t«) his wagon, assist him in the wagon, and we take a look 
over the pralr;e a : : at '?:■ -.tr:^. He tells :; . ••' sli" wrmdorful pnsslbil- 
itlee for younegr men on that place, for he said, "Aside from tha ranch 
proposition. It Is a fine place f.»r trappers iu winter." He had a big lot 
of old rusty traps that he used in former years. He told ua that there 
were no more prairies as large as that one uatll you would get north 
and east of Great Bear lake. We find him very ItitereKtlng, a« he has 
traveled over most of Canada. We have been taking his meale to him 
and he Is now feeling better. He Is moving around some. I told him 
we were looking for a cow ranch and wanted a ;.rairie eountry, and that 
I guessed we would drift on until we found It. Now th« .-Id gent seemed 
to realize that he could no longer handl« his pl8«'? and stook, and 
thought perhaps we might settle on that prairie, so he r.ald, "Let me sell 
out to you." I told him I would talk to my friends. The ne'^rt day wa 
asked him to set a price ^^n his outfit He did and we bought him out. 
"We were to take him to Peace River Landing, where he could get trans- 
portation for Edmonton as he said he intended visiting relatives In 
•eastern Canada. He told us of another route I«aJIng from this prairie 
south to the Pean(>, that iv- better than the oco we come In on, but he 
said It would be Imp^-ssslble to get a wagon over either trail until the 
moskeg froze over, aiid u.iless he got better he coald not ride horseback. 
We arrange to keep him with us until sleighing Is good, then take him 
to Peace River Landing. 

Now comes the Invoicing after a week's nursl:ig of the old gent by 
our ladles, with vegetable dinners;, yellow-legged chickens, and coffee 
with cream for br^akfar.t, the old gent is soot feeling many years 
younger, and Is able to move around the place. The Invoicing once com- 
plete, we pile ir. tb • yar''. r;.oo-.''. e'.i f^iiril^nu ^: ; .•<»*>r '.arna ind skins 
of every animal known to Canada. We roarraTisp;] tho old gent's bed In 
a side room, and fixed him a table of a bo-.: f-r his graase lamp. This 
was a tin can flllel with grease, a rag twl-st^d t s:bt. and placed In the 
grease for a wick. We spread skins on the dirt floor for a carpet, found 
an old wnsh tub tbat is full of holes, set It in tho l.-,ose dirt, take some 
bullets out of shells, melt them and run lead in the holes, heat 8om« 
water on the old-fashioned fireplace, and Dan n.nd T give the old man a 
hot bath. Each of u? gavp him. a suit of our uri<1prwear. We comb his 
long, shaggy hair, trim his whlsVers. clean his fineer nails, but draw the 
line at toe nails, partly on account "•f the abf.er; '.? of a disinfectant. 
Then Dan points out the •lan<?.?r 'f breaXir.a: r>ur hunting knives. H« 
says that nothing short of the horseshoe nipperi w lu'd feawe them. 
We take an elk head with long horns, take some sacks and rawhide 
whangs cut from a njoose hide, mi'Ve a Isrge ^nrif^hfv'r, snr«?a-l s-me 
skins over this and it ma'-res a chair. We plac* ■aome late papers on 
the table, dated Winniiieg. April 4th, and May 2d, 1910, etc.. cleaned out 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 39 



the old man's pipe, gave bitn a sack of tobacco and some matches, and 
made him sit In this chair to read the latest daily newspapers The old 
man looks around in the room at the ornaments hanging on the wall, 
such as Navajo blankets, cowboy coat of arms, a large Texas map. He 
asked, "Where was youzes raised?" I stepped up to the Texas map, 
made a circle around it. and said, "Right here." "Then," said he, "sit 
iown right here and give me a waybill to that country. That Is where 
I want to spend the balance of my life." 

"In that case," said I, "I will give you a few introductory hints for 
rour guidance as a new settler there." I gave him a letter to my club 
in the Panhandle of Texas, with a recommendation for membership, 
and with all the diplomacy that I could command I t Id the old gent 
that In that country, to ask a man his name, or where he was from, 
was considered a mark sf great disrespect. I told him that in the early- 
settlements of Texas, that the general court procedure was about as fol- 
lows : First a carefully worded invitation from the sheriff was sent to 
the party to be tried, that at his earliest convenience he was most cor- 
dially Invited to attend Judge o-and-So's court, to be held at the Lone 
Cottonwood Tree on the head of Bitter creek. On receipt of the invita- 
tion, the culprit, accompanied by a few friends and his attrney, all of 
whom must be crack shots, with their rifles and slxshooters, appear 
^efore the court. The culprit was taken to one side and informed of the 
charges against him. Everything now being ready for trial, the court 
asked, and answered himself the following questions. The Court: "First 
your name. I will cay .Tohn Doe. Your age I will say is not old. Your 
residence I will say is here at present. Your occupation I will say bar- 
tender." At this the culprit, his friends and att' rney jump to their feet, 
with sixshooters in hand, and enter a denial. Whereupon the Court 
Tould explain by saying. "You are attending the bar of my court." At- 
torney, "Objection withdrawn." The Court: "I Fee that you and your 
attorneys are properly armed. Mr. Sheriff, do you consider the weapons 
presented here are of the pr 'per calibre to insure the culprit justice in 
the premires?" Whereupon the sheriff arose, saluted the culprit and the 
court, and answered in the affirmative. The Court: "Now, gentlemen 
of the jnry. you have all heard the sheriff. You will now examine your 
slxshooters. put fresh caps on them, and all of you who care to be 
!»worn, pleaFe stand up: those to the contrary remain seated. We will 
-.iw riroceed with the trial." (Let no man ca?t a slur on a Texas 
court.) 

We are now readv t > round up the cattle, and receive them. Our 
Mttle party of four ptart on the circle. We find the cattle in a little 
■n^'Mle. and we are more than satisfied, as they are n nice hn^ch of cattle. 
■^'e are rhort a few. which the old man tells up are down at the Indian 
?amp. Ke has loaned them to the Indian to milk. We '^ou t -'it one hun- 
'red ani thirty-two head. We do not brand th^^m np would be custom- 
r'.ry in Texas In the transfer of a herd of cattle. Dan goes after the 
'^dlan for a witness in this transarti"n. and '^o-ivts the other cattle, 
"^'e also receive sixteen head of buffalo and nine head o? moose. In this 
•;e.Tl we have received two very fine oien and three work horses. The 
■>]'*. fTprt tells us that we must get busy with our hay for winter if we 
wou'' feed much. 

We r:ow r.a^e currclves as c mfortable as possible in our new quai^ 



40 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



ters. However, we use our tents some. The first thing we do is to take 
care of our vegetables and little crop. The old gent explains to us huw 
he manages everything in winter. We put up about fifty tons of hay 
and pea vine. This with what hay we have from last year we make out 
fine. We now get in our wood for winter. V/e then overhaul or,r cow 
sheds, clean them up, and put them in shape for winter. The old gent 
in the meantime is able t > get around, and shows as how to manage 
everything. The ne:.t thing is to overhaul our traps, and get them ready 
for the winter catch. We want t) trap some, as it will be necessary 
for Dan and me to have some exercise during the long winter that is to 
follow. The old gent goes through the whole performance of selecting 
the trapping grounds, setting the traps, placing the baits, telling us when 
and how to attend the tra::s, how to care for our furs, and gives us 
much general information on trapping. 

All this time our ladies have been putting away butter for winter 
use. The old gnt tells us where to find all the moose we want. Dan 
and I take eight ponies, about one week's grub, make a hunt, or rather 
I should say, a killing. In four days we returned with all the moose 
meat and one bear that sic ponies could pack. We cut it up in large 
chunks, three pieces to the hind quarter, salt it down on the hide for two 
days, then hang it on a scaffold, smoke it a few days, then hang it in 
the cellar, just as we used to do our buffalo meat on the plains of 
Texas, except that in Te- as we left it on the scaff' Id all winter. Our 
meat has kept sweet ar' resh all winter V. hile wi> nrj on this hunt 
the old gent and our ladies have been catching and preparing fish for 
winter use in the g'^nuine native style. These also prove fine eating. 
We now roll our te:.t3 up and g) into our winter quarters, as other na- 
tives do. 

A description of the country to the east and north in general. 
Theer is no use to g > into details or whip the devil ar und the stump 
for or against the country. I will say that all the country to the east 
of this point to Hudson's Bay and north to Alaska is with few exceptions 
a forest. There are ' ^n ? '" v little ■ atches of nv r;^ hnt in compprison 
to the whole country, they are so small and so widely scattered that 
they are of little corser-ne "e. The upper Peace River country to the 
south and west of this point is the best, and about all the country north 
of the Athabasl:a river t'^at is worthy of consideration by the farmer 
and homebuilder. The country to the east has s me lumber, very little 
mineral, good fishing, some hunting and good trapping. The country 
to the north has some lumber, some fishing, but is be"t for mineral and 
fur-beari' g animals. However the barren lands to the north and east 
of Great Bear lake are not to be classed with the c untry just described, 
as it is not much better than the be 1 of the ocean. There are two herds 
of buffalo in that worid aromd Gr^Tt Slave lale There is one herd to 
the west of this point. Then our little herd here is all the buffalo that 
I have any knowledge of on the oyen range. 

This November the Sth we have had some sn -w. The moskeg is 
froze. The old gent tells us it is safe to start out with a sleigh. I get 
up the big oxen and sret my sleigh in order. I have put in the sleigh 
20 sacks of wheat that the Indians have thrashed for us. This is the 
way the Indians thr-^ -h t'ne wheat, "^hev ta '^ '^" armful --.f whe-t 
straw, lay it on a large canvas. With a stick in each hand they pound 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 41 



it until all the wheat is out of the straw. They remove that and get 
more; keep this un ur.til they have all the wher.t they want; and it 
would surprise you the ameunt of wheat one Indian family can thrash 
in a day. I take this wheat to the Catholic mission flour mill on Peace 
river and bring the flour back home. The old gent shows me another 
route that is in eight days' travel of here. At the Landing we meet a 
: rospectors' outfit. They started out too late and here concluded to 
pell out and return to Edmonton. I buy their goods which Is plenty 
to run us one year. They arrange to take the -'Ifi gent back to Edmon- 
ton. I return to our ranch and find them all well, and they are sur- 
: rised to see me back so soon. The first thing my daughter did was 
to Ehow me a large bear hide tacked on the cabin. Dan had shot it 
rom the cabin dortr. The ladies said they also shot It but Dan said it 
had been dead long enough to have been a stinl;er in warm weather 
when they shot It. 

After I had got everything put away, I got out three large lamps 
that I had bought, filled them with coal oil, and g t out a sack of news- 
papers, and magazines, and we all read. 

The next day Dan and I saddled our ponies and rode out on the 
"^ralrie. The snow was about eight inches deep. Dan had set 160 steel 
traps along the river and had caught some furs. He looked after those 
up the river and I looked after those down the river. We kept twa 
milk cows and two ponies in the barn all the time. The balance of the 
?tock ran outside, came in at right, and f to<>d iu the shed. We fed hay 
to all night and morning. On days that the wind did not blow too hard 
the stock went out on the prairie and fed. The ponies would paw the 
enow off of a spot and then graze. I have seen old cows follow the 
ronles, and when a pory would move away from a place that he had 
vawed the snow off of. the old cow would rush up and go to feeding on 
that spot. While our buffalo were gentle enough to lot us ride very 
c!ose to them, yet they never came under the sheds and mixed but little 
with the cnttle. We r-.-r^r--^ trying to get them tamor. D'lring the worst 
of the wi":tc-r we put hay out for them, but they had no regularity 
for comirg around, as at times they would g» away, and we would 
rot see them for several days. Then they would come and remain 
close by f r several days. 

There is a long deep hole In the river opposite the cabins. When 
~e want fieh we cut a hole in the ice whioh ia from eierht to twelve 
'rr-hes thick. In a few hours we have several fir.e fish. We cover the 
ho'e up again. We have a nice little spring back of the barn. It is ar- 
rf.T-ged so as to pass throua-h a part of the barn for our stock. After 
■t pa^sep throsgh the hnrn it runs into a deep enlrh.. The ice forms In 
the gulch eeveral fert deep. We cut a chan'iel in the ioe, and the 
wster gees into the river under the ice. The buffalo never drink in 
'^'liiter. They eat sn* w altogether, like the cattle in the DaVotas. On 
*bo open rnnge they rnrely ever get any water in winter. It is better 
tfcst they don't where they get plenty of snoxj'. Every day is about 
the sanoe with us all winter. Dan and I attenc f ur traps and stocky 
?.Ti keep a good fire In the cabin. Our vegetables run us most all 
•■■■■. t'T- '-•.otntoes all ^vintfr Our FT7-!0>r.:i r-.w.- ru":? -i-. n!l winter. 
Y'f ' Hied one large noose during the winter .I'ld hung it up in one 
CQT' P7 o.' a oa'^in thi: h.ing we would have it fresh. It froze so hard 



42 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



we could not cut it, only with an ax. Then when it was struck with an 
ax it would fly off ia little i-ieceB lite chopping on a log. Then the taste 
was all out; it was not n:uch good. 

It is now spring, April tenth. The scow is all gone off the level. 
We see snow on the mountains to the north of us until June. Oa 
April fifteenth we saw the first green leaf, and in ten days they were 
full grown. We never in our lives saw plants leave out so quickly 
before. 

Our river here was clear of ice except along the bank, on April 
25th. On April first we took in all our traps. We had a nice lot of 
furs. We had caught twenty-two large wolves. The black fox is the 
trapper's choice, as one choice black fox hide will bring all the way 
from nine to fifteen hundred dollars. On the first day of A^ay W3 
have not lost one cow, horse, or buffalo. Some of the old cows got 
pretty thin, but aside from that all the stock came through in good 
condition. Next winter when the fur is good we will kill about three 
of the oldest buffalo bulls, as they got poor this winter. 

A WINTER'S FUR CATCH. 



Dan starts to plow the garden today. My daughter and I start to 
Edmonton with our furs. The days are now nire and v.arm, the nights 
are cool. It requires six ponies to pack our furs and camp outfit. 
We start for the head of steamboat navigati m on Lesser Slave lake. 
We arrive here without any trouble; farmers are plowing and seeding. 
We laern that we will have to wait a few days for a steamer. We see 
a man who has a small b )at to sell. He tells us we could take this 
boat and go through the lake "in one day with a sail. Then down the 
Lesser Slave river, over the rapids, and out into the Athabaska river; 
and down that river to Athabaska Landing in two days. My daughter 
suggests that we tale the boat, and try it as we have not yet traveled 
in that way. I arra; ge with a rancher to keep ■ ur ponies for us until 
we return from EdniOnton. I 7 aid twenty dollars for the boat and got 
the man to show us how to tack sail; placed all our stuff in it, hoisted 
sail, and started. The first lay is fine. We pass Shaw's Point and enter 
the lake proper. Here a heavy sea strikes us and we are forced to 
make for shelter. We stretch tents and go into camp for the night. 
Next morning we hoist sail and head for open sea. We are almost 
five miles out, when we notice 01 our right whit? caps, indicating 
rough water. Now a high wind setrikes us, ar.d a heavy sea is on us. 
We turn with the wind, and heal fcr land as fast as we can. Wo 
must now be travelir^ twe ty miles an hoar: onr little beat, the "Happy 
Rover," seems to fairly jump from one wave t) a.aot'ier. Fortunately 
about a quarter of a mile from shore we stri!:e into some high tool 
grass that breaks the rough water. We see a poi U of land projecting 
out into the water. I steered arou:; 1 it, and as v;e pass I make a turn, 
head for some high grass, and ran into it. Here we find the water 
very smooth and very shallow. I now maneuver to make a landing, 
and see some logs Ivipg on the s'v re. Here I fin 1 a good landing, furl 
sail, use a pole, and make a landing. We go ashore and stand for a 
few minutes watching the white-capped waves rn the lake, as they 
roll high in the air, then break, and fly in every direction. We look 
in our boat now and realize the nnrrow escape we have run from being 
sunk, when we discover nur boat has considerable water in it and we are 
wet to the skin. We now breathe a sigh of relief. I dip the water out 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 43 



of the boat, and find that no serious damage has been done, as we had 
arranged our things in the boat allowing for some water. I now pile 
some poles tcgethei", and we soon have a fire. I stretch the tent which 
is wet, as we had it. sjTead over our cargo. 1 open up our war bag, 
and get out some dry cl.thes. We hang our wet clothes on a buuoh of 

.earby bushes to diy. I now proceed to tie our boat firmly to some 

small willow bushes. We get our rifles, and give them an overhauling. 

About this time I ni tice a large bull monse come out of the timber 

a sh<^ distance from us, and head straight for the lake. He makes 

halt, but wades in and keeps straight on as if to cross the lake. 
It is here about fifteen miles wide. He goes on and on; we watch him 

intil he goes out of sight. The waves are r lling so high we can't 
see him after a few minutes. Presently we saw him coming back; this 
t:me he was headed straight for our camp. He had not yet seen us. 
We grab our rifles, run out a short distance from camp, and waited for 
him. When he had got into water where he could wade, he stopped, 
and shook his head as if to get the water out of his eyes, and rested 
for some time. He then moved on toward us until he had got within a 
'ew hundred yards, when he saw our tents. He turned to one side, and 
came cm. We waited until he got clear of the water. I then put my 
hat on the muzzle of my gun, and held it up above the tall grass. He 
saw this, and stopped to look at it. We both shot him and he fell in 
bis tracks. We took his hide off, and all the meat we wanted. I then 
took off his horns which were very beautiful; they were still in the vel- 
vet. My daughter .'^tond in our boat and held the horns while I took 
her picture. Now this moose had evidently cr.issed the lake on the 
ice and thought he could cross any time, or else he had been whipped by 
another bull, and so closely pursued that he took this method to get 
away from him. 

We remain here until the next morning. With favorable wind we 
h ist sail and put to sea. We have better success. We skimmed along 
over the water at about ten miles an hour. A few miles before we 
passed out of the lai.e we saw an outfit on the trail. I changed my 
sp.ii; went ashore, and made a picture. It was two Frenchmen from 
the old country going to Peace river to get homestead land. They had 
one small ox, and a two-wheeled cart. When I first turned my field 
g'.isses on them one man was in the lead helping the ox pull, while the 
other one did the whipping. (Note the trail.) The cart is standing 
i:; the middle of the trail here. This is S( me of the road that I have 
told you about before. We put to sea again. This time when within 
twi miles of the head of Lesser Slave river wher" we would pass out 

' the la] e into the river, we find many sand Imrs. and it is a mean 
place to boat. Now the wind changes to our side and blows a gale. 
We are opce more forr-ed to put into harbor. The wind is so strong we 
have no choice, only to drift with it. We are bh wn far out on a sandy 
^lenf'h; tie our boat to a drift log until morning. We rise early; there 
is no wind. We find our boat is a hundred feat 'rom the water. Once 
la^'k in the lake, we make a start t > find the river. There is now a 
.ie Te fog hanging over the lake compelling us t hug close to the shore 
''■• o. After considerable difficulty in crossing sand bars, we find the 
-•■ r and pass out of the lake. A mile dowr. the river we stop for 
Lrea fa.-t oprcs'to an Indian village. Some Indians come out to trade 



44 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



with us. We now pass on down; this Is Slave river. We arrive at the 
rapids. It is very dangerous to run these rapids with a loadel boat. 
I pay an Indian to take our boat over the rapids to the junction wifa 
the Athabaska. We make portage, by Indian wagon; find Indian ani 
boat all O. K. We are now at Mirror Landing. 

We load our boat, and pass out onto the mighty Athabaska river. 
The Indians tell us of three rapids that we must be careful In passlug. 
They tell us to always keep to the middle of the river in the deepest 
water, as they point out the danger of striking a boulder, and becoming 
upset. The current takes us about six miles an hour, then the sail 
moves us along about ten or twelve miles an hour. We passed these 
rapids, but I fear we will never look like anything again. Night is 
close on us and we must camp. I select a place to stop, but we ara 
going so fast that I failed to land, so I selected another place a mile 
or so farther down and by a scratch managed to st.)p here. We tied 
our boat to a large drift log and go Into camp. A dense forest on 
both sides as usual, and a wild looking country this Is. We have sup- 
per and stretch a tent. My daughter retires. I am sitting by a big fire 
listening to the roar of the water passing over a rapid below us that we 
must pass over, when presently just back of us in the timber, a pack 
of wolves opened up howling which added to the loiiesomeness of the 
camp. Presently my daughter called out: '"Father, fire the big gun." 
I fired In the direction of the wolves, and we heard no more from 
them. The echo of the big gun in the forest at^ross the river as It died 
away lent weirdness to t'le occasion. It now began to rain, and I had 
to go In. With the patter of the rain on the tent I soon fell asleep. 

The next morning the sun rose bright and clear. We run those 
rapids, make a turn In the river, and come In view of the village of 
Athabaska Landing. Ve pull up to the landing among the many 
boats lying at the wharf, go to the hotel and get dinner, and arrange 
for transportation to Edn'.onton. We had sold our boat. 

Arriving in Edmont n we go to a hotel. We had no sooner hit the 
hotel, than we were attac; ed by one of these silk-hat, goggle-eyed, cut- 
away, society dudes. He asked me where I was fr m. True to my 
raising, I took this as an insult. I raised myself, stood erect, and made 
ready for what would follow. I told him I was from Bitter Creek, and 
that the higher up, the worse they got; and I was fr >m the head. 

My furs In the sample room ooened u;i and arranged to the best 
advantage, I invite some fur buvorR. I am offered f r one fox hide, 
eleven hundred dollars; f r another eight hundred dollars. I made a 
lump sale of all the furs for thirty-two hundred and fifty dollars. We 
remained in Edni >nt n a few davs shopping and buying provisions. 
We take the mail hack for Athabaska Landing. Hera we take the 
steamer for the head of Slave lake. Arriving hen?, we round up our 
ponies, pack, and are off for camp. We arrive at oamp in ten days. 

Dan now proceed.^ to make a diagnosis In our -"i-^es, and hands down 
this ruling: "I find t is necessary to fumigate 'our clothing and dip 
you both, as your entire systems are Infested with that deadly germ. 
"The Settlement." Mrs. Parker tells us that she Tears our cabins are 
haunted. I asked why, and she said: "I imagine I can hear voices 
laughing and joking." I ask her if these voioa.^ r;v^embled our own 
conversation carried on last winter. She said, "I believe they did." 
I then explained to her that the voices she heard wen? our own con- 
versations carried on by ourselves la^t winter, and It being so cold then, 
they froze up; and the weather now being warm, these conversations 
are thawing out. My theory was accepted. 




WINDBOUND ON SLAVE LAKE. MISS COOK HOLDING MOOSE 

HORNS. 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 45 



A TRIP TO THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 

Dan and I now take stock. We are very wel! satisfied with oar 
achievements so far In Canada. My daughter and I want to make a 
trip to Great Slave Lake. Dan says he and the Indian will ta!:e car« 
of the ranch. We get our canvas boat, put It In our little river here, 
load It with grub, and camp equipage, get In. and pnsh off. 'vTr. a'-s I 
Mrs. Parker tell us to write them every day. We have a sail, oars, 
paddle and pole. We use only a paddle until we pass Into a larger 
river. We do not need It mu'^h here only to kfxjy the boat straight, 
as the current is very swift We make fortv to sirtr mllas a lay. Wo 
come Into a lake, see some tents, but do not stop; pass oat of the 
lake, and on down the river. This is a wild country, and we see \tt» 
"Of game. In five days we reach Great Slavo T,a'-e. Her<> w(» take a 
steamer for Fort Reliance. Hare we take our canoe again, with an 
Indian for a guide. We go east through lakes, creeks and rivers, until 
we come to the head of BaVer lake. This Is not far from Hudson Bay. 

We turn back to Fort Reliance and here catch a steamer for Fort 
Kae. Our guide tells us w- can r>ass on into Gr.-^at Bc^t lake. Arriving 
in Great Bear lake, we go into camp. Here we g'> Inland a short dis- 
tance, and see the barren lands. Here wo spo .some Eskimo. Back to 
our boat, we turn west. foa=tlr? ?! mg Grf»at Bear T^iake. We come 
to McVlckar Bay. We ?all acr 'ss this; It Is ten miles wide. We coast 
on west This lake is so shallow we have to keep far out in places. 
Fish are swarmins in the water, and there are many varieties. W« 
come to Bear riv^'r nr.^l rass down ita course. It is a su<:ces3ion of 
rapids. We come out into the Mackenzie river at Fort Norman. 

The river hen> Is more than a mile wide. We p.^ss on down to 
the head of the fWt.%. TMs deltn Is twenty miles wMo at high tide. 
This tide water is out of the Arctic ocean which we can see in the dis- 
tance. We have now rea<'hed our goal on this trip. 

We now think of our rin-'':!. t? ! how '.•,">■ orn ?'i-^or fry manage to get 
back. Fortunately we see a steamer going up the river; we hail it, 
and our outfit Is soon all on boar 1. This tpfllro.'" »is ha.-!k to Fort Simp- 
son. Here we bid farewell to our suMp. :^s he war.ti? to go on up the 
river to his home. Wp pmplov -i-iother guilo Ho ♦,V;e<? na no the 
Liard river, passing F >rt Llarl. We pars on 1-to Nolfion river. At 
Fort Nelson we havp to abandon wir boat as the river is freezing. We 
arrange with an Indian t^o taVe us across t i o'lr r^r.^h with a dog 
sleigh. From her«> on to our ranch we suffer siorn* with the cold. We 
arrive at our ranch. Dan now wants to know if we will be willing to 
remain in camp until spring. 

lyPORMATION OTHER THAN YOV HAVF' TfKRF: THAT YOU 
WOULD NEED FIRST. OR LAST IF YOU WOULD GO TO CANADA. 

A map, the land laws, laws on settlers' eff-'fts; erterlng Canada, 
railroad rates and how to get them. The Sennt"> r^^ort of 1907. For 
the above, address the Hon. Secretary of the Interior, ttawa, Ontario, 
Canada. 

For the game laws, apply to the Chief Gam'^ W.-ir-ff^n at the Capital 
of the province that yon would visit The above geutlemen will treat 



t 



46 THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TODAY. 



you with the utmost courtesy. The Canadian Government has agents 
scattered over the United States from whom you can secure railroad 
rates. To find the agent nearest you I would address a letter to the 
Hon. Superintendent of Immigration, Ottawa, Canada. You can secure 
very low rates if you will apply to these agents. 

For information regarding British Columbia, address the Super- 
intendent of Immigration, at Victoria, B. C. If you go to Canada 
"o trap and hunt, I would advise you to fully popt yourself on the laws 
regarding the same. If you are a settler talking in stock, first look 
well to the laws regarding same. Do this before you go in. 

I have some Canadian laws, but if I should quote them here they 
might be changed when you go in and mislead you. When you go in 
you will want the latent laws. You neel not have anv scruples as re- 
gards treatment, frr there is not a country on the face of the earth 
where you will receive more courteous and fair treatment than in 
Canada. 

If you visit Canada and stop in a town, inquire if there is an Im- 
migration building: if there is one. go there. If there is an auction 
Fales-yard for live stock, visit it. If you want t ■ go to the Peace river 
country, go to Edmr>nton to outfit. Some might t"Il you to go on west of 
Edmonton to Medicine Lodge to outfit. I woiiM not recommend that 
^ecause that is a newer place, and your outfit would cost you more 
than at Edmonton. Then srme might tell you to go straight north from 
Medicine Lodge to the Peace river. Now by this time there may be 
p. summer trail thnt you could get over with horj^es. but not with 
wagons, or buggy. If you would go to look at the country, and return, 
then take two horses — one to ride and one to pack. One pack horse 
•^•ould do for two men. Take only a small amou^^t of grab, as you will 
find trading posts where you can replenish your irrub sack. Now if you 
were going to stay, then get a big pair of oxe^^ : (use o\ harness, not 
" yoke.) put on forty hundroi to Athaba! a I.nnding. There shin by 
steamer to Shaw's Polrt Landing on Lesser Slave Lai e all your load, 
except ju^t erub enoutrh to run you t'^ that p; i"t. Th^^'-' talce it very 
?!'w, and you can now pull it to Peace river. The freight rates from 
j«thabaska Landing to Shaw's Point Landing are one dollar — fifty cents 
per hundred. From Edmonton to Fort St. John you will pay twenty- 
five cents per pound for any freight. 

Never get in a hurry. Give your stock plenty of time to rest and 
fT-n7,e. If you have a waeon. take your milk cows along. Then when 
you stop your big oxen will do your plowing; then you could get land 
\n break at five dollars per acre from your neighbor. Never start to 
Peace river with a light hack or buggy. 

If you would trap or hunt any, be sure to pee the game warden 
p.\ Edmonton before starting. If you take stock into Canada, you must 
' p-^n them in your possession twelve months before you can sell them. 
D ' 't buy or sell any wild animals, furs, pelts, heads, or horns of 
^'11 animals, until you have seen the Chief Cnme V.'arden about a 
T)r>r.Tise for doing so. F' r prices of raw furs, address R. S. Robinson, 
!:'■'' to 152 Pacific Ave., East, Winnipeg. Canada. 

I would not advise men to go to Canada for the purpose alone of 
---■ ing employment. While there is a g"od dpmand for labor there 
Irom April 1 to November 1, there would be little to do fr^m Novem- 



THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST AS IT IS TOIWfV^' 12 |9t| 



ber to April. 

The cream of Canada is the southern part of Saskatchewan and 
Alberta. That is the wheat belt. If you must have land in the settled 
portions, then I wt.uld say, go to that spot where the Canadian Nurth- 
ern railroad crosses the line between Saskatchewan and Alberta; aud 
look over the country eat, west, and north for a hundred miles. If you 
can't find what you want there, you will have to go to the Peace river tn 
get prairie land. If 1 was going to do that, I would buy a cheap pony 
at that point. Then as you travel over that conutry you might pick up 
a cheaper Peace river cutf:t; then go on to Edmonton to make a start 
for Peace river. The above plan would be for a new filing. If you 
want improved land in the finest farming belt in Canada, go to Regina in 
Saskatchewan, west to Moose Jaw, then north to Saskatoon. 

In conclusion, I have not intended to brag on Canada, cr knock 
against it. I have told the facts as I saw them, and according to my 
own ideas of it, and I trust this information will be of service to the 
reader. And if by chance you should find my ranch, you will not need 
a key, but you will find a latch string on the outside of the door. 

I am, very respectfully, 
WM^ WM.i-::-.. .- JIM M. COOK. 



•-^ A COW BOY'S IDEA OF A FREE LAND. 

A Country beyond the range of the silk hat man 

A Country beyond the range of the goggle-eyed so- 
ciety man; 

A Country beyond the range of the bull-pup, hobble 
skirt dame. 

A Country beyond the range of the lying grafter 
f' man, 

I ' A Country beyond the range of the sugar coated 

jpi;-: middle man. 

f- A Country where the poor man does not wear his 

^ hat in his hand, 

A Country where there are no parasites in the form 
of man; 

A Country where the poor man does command. '] 

A man who can make a hand, in this land, is the 
:.- man in demand. 

t. By JIM M. COOK, 

P^^ A Texas Man. 



) 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

lllllillllliililillll 

016 215 245 2 



